Well, it seems that Joker: Folie à Deux has done the unthinkable—it’s managed to make clowns cry. And not in the “we’re-laughing-so-hard-we’re-crying” kind of way, but more in the “please make it stop” variety. Critics are doing their best impression of someone trying to hold back tears at a bad stand-up show, and audiences? Well, let’s just say that if CinemaScore handed out participation trophies, this movie would’ve flunked out of the ceremony before it even started.
Right now, Rotten Tomatoes is looking like a produce section gone horribly wrong with this flick sitting at a juicy 32%. I mean, a 32%? That’s not a movie review score, that’s a high school math test result that you hide from your parents!
And then, just when you thought the news couldn’t get worse, CinemaScore came in like that annoying neighbor who says, “I told you so,” at just the wrong time. They’ve gone ahead and slapped Joker 2 with a D rating. That’s right—D for Disappointment, D for Disaster, and possibly D for Didn’t we already do this?.
Now, for some context, the last time a comic book movie took such a nosedive, it was Fantastic Four (2015)—which, if you remember, was so bad it made people question if maybe, just maybe, superhero movies could be too much of a good thing. Fantastic Four was sitting at a C-, which is basically CinemaScore’s way of saying, “You tried, and maybe we’ll give you a cookie for effort.” But Joker 2? It didn’t even get the cookie. It just got the crumbs.
And it’s not even like the competition is that fierce! Recent flops like Megalopolis and Borderlands managed to pull off a D+, which is basically the academic equivalent of asking, “Did you at least spell your name right on the exam?” Joker: Folie à Deux couldn’t even do that. It’s like turning in a blank sheet of paper with a sad doodle on it.
But wait, it gets better (or worse, depending on how you look at it). The Hollywood Reporter initially predicted the movie would rake in a whopping $70 million on opening weekend. Turns out, reality was sitting in the back of the theater waving a red flag because now they’re saying it’s going to crawl in at under $50 million. That’s the box office equivalent of showing up to a party, expecting champagne, and getting flat soda instead.
If you were hoping for Joker 2 to bring the house down, well, it did—just not in the way anyone expected. Instead of a smash hit, we’ve got a gentle whimper of confusion and regret.
The Joker: FOLIE A DEUX scores a D. Did you catch this in theaters tonight? We would love to hear your thoughts. #TheJoker #cinemascore pic.twitter.com/FOKksjFRN9
— CinemaScore (@CinemaScore) October 5, 2024