Why did Joker: Folie à Deux fail at the box office and will there be a sequel?

When the Joker sequel was first announced, it seemed like the ultimate Hollywood no-brainer. The first film made $1.08bn (£826m) at the global box office and scored 11 nominations at the Oscars, winning two awards at the ceremony. How could Joker: Folie à Deux possibly fail?

Well, Warner Bros might well be asking themselves that question this week. Just about everything that could have gone wrong for Joker 2 has, in fact, gone wrong. Any hopes for a third movie featuring Joaquin Phoenix's version of the Clown Prince of Crime have evaporated, regardless of whether there's any narrative reason for it.

For starters, the box office is a disaster — domestically, at least. Early estimates per Entertainment Weekly suggest that the movie opened to just $40m (£31m) in the States, while The Hollywood Reporter suggested those estimates might even be a little generous. Thankfully for all involved, the worldwide opening is expected to clock in at a slightly healthier $121m (£93m), albeit still a long way short of the $234m (£179m) global debut of its predecessor. And given this movie cost around $200m (£153m) to make, the financial demands are much higher this time around.

Why did Joker: Folie à Deux fail at the box office?

So, what's going on here? Well, put simply, the word of mouth this time around is not even close to what it was in 2019. At that time, there was a real positive buzz around Joker. It had wowed film critics on its festival debut, winning the top prize at Venice, and subsequently soared into cinemas on a wave of strong reviews.

Read more: Joker: Folie à Deux is a striking sequel designed to tear down the film that came before it (ForTheWin)

And, more importantly, audiences liked it when they saw it. They told their friends "you have to see the new Joker movie". It was the movie of the moment. It got a decent B+ rating from initial audiences polled by CinemaScore, but the public sentiment only grew as the release drew on and the Halloween costumes flew off the shelves.

In contrast, Joker: Folie à Deux got an almost unheard-of D rating via audiences polled by CinemaScore. That's the lowest score ever given to a comic book movie. For context, the lowest ever MCU scores by this metric were for The Marvels, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Eternals. All three of those movies got a B. Even Francis Ford Coppola's widely maligned Megalopolis managed a D+.

While initial Joker 2 reviews were mixed, subsequent responses have seen the overall critical vibe settle on the idea that this is a significant step down from the first film. On Rotten Tomatoes, just 33% of critics gave the movie a positive review.

Read more: Joaquin Phoenix And Director Todd Phillips Argued About This 1 Key Part Of Joker's Appearance (HuffPost)

Part of this response may be due to the slightly confusing marketing around Joker: Folie à Deux and, specifically, one of its key elements. Everyone involved continually denied that the film is a musical, while trailers worked hard to conceal the extent of the movie's song-and-dance numbers. Musicals are often divisive with audiences, particularly when those who dislike the genre feel as if they have been duped into watching one.

Another element of the mixed response could well be the ending, which it's fair to say has all of the ingredients to split Joker fans right down the middle. There are spoilers ahead as we delve into the Joker: Folie à Deux ending and the future of the franchise.

Joker: Folie à Deux ending explained

It's fair to say that the ending to Joker: Folie à Deux deserves credit for its bravery in the way it treats the character of Arthur Fleck and, specifically, what the other characters — and perhaps the audience — assume him to be.

At the end of his trial, Fleck renounces the idea that he is "The Joker" and instead describes himself as a lonely outsider. This loses him the love and adoration of Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) and, after initially escaping the courthouse, he is returned to Arkham. There, he is met by a fellow inmate who brutally stabs Fleck — apparently to death — before carving a Glasgow Smile across his own face. This, we understand, is the "actual" Joker.

Read more: Fans Say ‘Joker 2’ Ending Was a Betrayal, But Was It Actually Its Finest Moment? (The Hollywood Reporter)

This all feels like a nod to the contentious reaction to the first Joker movie, with some claiming that the film itself elevated Arthur Fleck as an iconic anti-hero, rather than criticising him for his murders. For those who are fans of the character and the franchise, this isn't the feel-good ending they might want for him. Suddenly, that CinemaScore makes a bit more sense.

Will there be a Joker 3?

With Arthur Fleck full of stab wounds by the time the credits roll, it's unlikely that this version of the Batman universe will ever appear on the big screen again. Both director Todd Phillips and Phoenix were evasive about whether they'd even follow up the first film with a sequel, so this ending feels like a definitive way to shut down the prospect of more.

Read more: 'Joker: Folie à Deux is a musical, just not a very good one' (Yahoo Entertainment)

Phillips has definitively stated he won't be making another Joker film. "It's not really where this movie is headed for me," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "I feel like my time in the DC Universe was these two films." In a previous interview with Variety, he had said: "I think we've said what we wanted to say in this world."

So that seems like the end for Arthur Fleck and for the Joker franchise. Given the soft box office thus far, it seems unlikely that anyone will be kicking Phillips' door down to bring Gaga back for a Harley Quinn spin-off or some sort of Fleck resurrection. This, by the looks of it, is proof that not every successful movie needs a sequel. Sometimes, one hit should be enough.

Joker: Folie à Deux is in UK cinemas now.