By Just before its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in late August, projections for the domestic opening weekend box-office of “Joker: Folie a Deux” were on track for a potential $100 million+ debut.
Some estimates were going as high as $120-140 million for the Todd Phillips-directed film and all seemed certain it would outpace the original film’s $96 million debut. Then the $200 million budgeted film was screened.
Mixed reviews emerged from the fest, even as critical aggregate scores were only slightly worse than the original. Sentiment toward the film seemed to change though, and by mid-September the debut weekend estimates were revised drastically downward to somewhere over $70 million.
Now, Deadline is reporting that just days before the film releases in cinemas, it is now tracking for a $55 million debut – around half that of those early projections and $40 million or so less than its predecessor.
That would be a disappointing start for the film domestically, even as internationally it’s still looking good and the worldwide launch for the film is tipped to be as high as $140 million.
One thing that may or may not impact is that the film’s ending has leaked online and has led to a divided reaction from those who’ve read the spoilers. “Joker: Folie à Deux” opens in cinemas on Friday with previews commencing Thursday afternoon.
The post “Joker” Sequel Box-Office Projections Shrink appeared first on Dark Horizons.
