The movie is short of original at the box office
A Musical Moment of “Joker” and Its Impact on Public Thoughts on Screenplays and the Movie Industry: A Complication to the Paradigm of Mr. Phoenix?
The original “Joker” earned 11 Oscar nominations, $1 billion in global box office receipts, and created a cultural phenomenon. Warner Bros. anticipated a sequel with the same director and star as the first one.
Reviews have been dismal. The New York Times called it “a dour, unpleasant slog,” and audiences awarded it a D score in exit polls, according to tracker CinemaScore. The musical element — an idea that apparently came to Mr. Phoenix in a dream — offered audiences a fresh idea and, to many critics, it served as the proper way to further explore a deranged main character with a warped imagination. It was alienating to the typical fanboy audience who would have liked a repeat of Mr. Phoenix’s Best Actors Oscar winning film.
Joker: Folie à Deux: A First Look at the Joker Film at Arkham Asylum, Arkham State Hospital and LHC
The first draw five years ago generated almost a century million dollars, but the opening draw this year has an insignificant amount of money. That film cost over 50 million dollars to make. This one is contained primarily to two locations: Arkham Asylum, which houses Arthur Fleck, a.k.a. The courthouse is where The Joker is being tried for his crimes. So it shouldn’t have cost as much. Under the new production heads at Warner Bros., Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were paid handsomely for their efforts. (Trade reports indicate that Mr. Phoenix received $20 million to reprise his role of Arthur Fleck/Joker while Lady Gaga earned $12 million to return to the bleak world of Mr. Phillips’s creation.)
Joker: Folie à Deux follows Arthur Fleck in the aftermath of his murder spree from the first film. At Arkham State Hospital, he meets and falls in love with fellow inmate Harley Quinn (“Lee”) a.k.a Lady Gaga. The trial starts questioning whether the madness was a result of a psychological disorder or part of an elaborate act.
Bob Mondello, NPR’s in-house film critic, gave the sequel a mixed review, saying that it did not deepen our understanding of the characters, but it was beautiful, and that he applauded the film for taking risks.
Some film critics and comic book fans thought the sequel strayed too far from the original film, feeling unmoved by the sequel’s musical direction — which came as a surprise to many moviegoers — and unconvinced by its subversive ending. The highly- anticipated love story of Fleck and Lee was simply “wafer-thin” and “undermined” by others. Gaga’s talents were also used by some as a complaint.
PostTrak rated Warner Bros. film a half-star out of five, according to Deadline. Rotten Tomatoes pegged it at just 33% on its Tomatometer.
The comic book movie has been flopping after a poor opening weekend and is looking like one of the worst comic book movies of all time.