Joker 2 sets a historic new low for comic book movies

By Alex Welch Published October 5, 2024

Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix hold microphones in Joker 2. — Warner Bros. Pictures

Joker: Folie à Deux has officially fallen farther than any other comic book movie in at least one noteworthy metric.

The hype surrounding the once highly anticipated sequel to 2019’s Joker has been on a steady decline ever since the initial, lukewarm reactions to it started to come following its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in early September. A month later, the film has received largely negative reviews from both critics and casual viewers alike. It is also expected to fall short in its first weekend of its predecessor’s $96 million box office opening.

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On top of all of that, Joker: Folie à Deux has now reportedly earned a D CinemaScore. That means the Joker sequel has officially surpassed 2015’s infamously bad Fantastic Four, which earned a C- grade as the lowest-rated comic book movie in CinemaScore history.

For comparison’s sake, Joker acquired a B+ rating when it was released in 2019. Sony’s Madame Web, furthermore, recorded a C+ grade when it was released to overwhelmingly scathing reviews earlier this year.

Arthur and Lee dance on a fake rooftop in Joker 2. — Warner Bros. Pictures

A few months ago, it would have seemed outlandish to suggest that Joker: Folie à Deux would perform this badly with moviegoers. But that’s not the case anymore. The sequel, which builds from where Joker left off by incorporating elements from both the musical and courtroom genres, was already shaping up in recent weeks to be one of 2024’s least-liked films. Its historically low CinemaScore rating and lackluster box office opening only confirm the validity of that projection.

It is still a bit surprising to see Joker: Folie à Deux fall so short of its predecessor in nearly every measurable way. The first Joker surprised everyone by not only earning over $1 billion at the box office but also multiple Academy Award nominations and a few wins. Joaquin Phoenix even took home the Best Actor Oscar in 2020 for his lead performance as Arthur Fleck.

Warner Bros. no doubt hoped that Folie à Deux would be able to, at the very least, come close to replicating its parent film’s success, but that’s looking less and less likely every day.

Joker: Folie à Deux is now playing in theaters.

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Alex is a writer and critic who has been writing about and reviewing movies and TV at Digital Trends since 2022. He was…

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What went wrong with Joker 2? Why Joker: Folie à Deux bombed big-time

Joker and Harley look at something in Joker: Folie a Deux.

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In 2019, Joker was a massive success for Warner Bros., director Todd Phillips, and Joaquin Phoenix, who went on to win an Oscar for Best Actor for his turn as Arthur Fleck/Joker. It broke records for an R-rated film and finished with $1.079 billion worldwide. With that kind of money, it's easy to see why Warner Bros. wanted a sequel so badly. And thus all roads led to Joker 2, which is better known as Joker: Folie à Deux. In case you were wondering, the subtitle means "madness for two," but there may be more than two people going mad at Warner Bros. over the opening weekend that Folie à Deux had.

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Like Joker 2? Then watch these 3 movies right now

The Joker stands in front of two cops in an elevator in "Joker: Folie à Deux."

Love it or hate it, 2019's Joker was a global phenomenon. Todd Phillips' origin story for Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), aka the Joker, became a critical success — it won two Oscars and one Golden Lion — and a financial juggernaut with a worldwide gross of over $1 billion. Five years later, Phillips and Phoenix reteamed for the sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, while also recruiting the services of Lady Gaga to play Harley Quinn.

Like its predecessor, Joker 2 will be extremely polarizing. Folie à Deux has already received more negative reviews than Joker, and its box office haul will be significantly less than the billion-dollar mark reached by its predecessor. However, there will still inevitably be many fans of the agent of chaos. If you're looking for more films like Joker 2, try one of these three movies below.
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Congratulations, Hollywood, you’ve ruined the Joker for good

Joker sits at a table while Harley Quin sits behind him.

This weekend, Joaquin Phoenix returns to his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker, in Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie à Deux. Ostensibly a sequel to Joker, Folie à Deux is less a continuation of the story begun in the 2019 film and more a denouement of it. It takes big swings, but it seems to have lost the plot. That's largely because, like its predecessor, it lacks a basic understanding of the titular character. The critical and expected commercial underperformance of Folie à Deux hints that Hollywood has done what it always has and milked every last drop from the Joker cow.

Once upon a time, the Clown Prince of Crime was an icon of the comic book world, a titan of entertainment with more lives than Catwoman. People used words like "complex" and "three-dimensional" to describe him, separating him from the cheap villains he once shared the spotlight with. A few years ago, the Joker was a precious role that earned Oscars for his performers and elevated any project it was a part of. Flash-forward to now, and what you have is a ghost of what once was, a joke that has been told so many times that it no longer has a punch line. Because, now that the Joker has gone from villain to antihero to champion of the oppressed, what's left for him to be other than a joke himself?
Let the Joker laugh