What Box Office for Joker 2 Will Have Warner Bros. Laughing to the Bank?

Joker: Folie á Deux is heading into theaters, and it’s looking like it won’t achieve the same level of success as Joker. The 2019 box office hit earned $1 billion in theaters with $96.2 million over the course of its first weekend. Now, Joker 2, starring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn alongside the returning Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/the Joker, is moseying its way into theaters to decidedly less buzz. In Thursday-night previews, the movie made $7 million, almost 50 percent less than its predecessor, which earned $13.3 million, respectively. So expectations are a little … droopy. Given that knowledge, what amount would have the Warner Bros. bros laughing to the bank? Let’s talk about it.

Weeping to the bank

None of the reasonable expectations for the film see it doing particularly well, but if Joker 2 makes anywhere between $30 and 45 million its opening weekend, then that’s not only significantly below projections, but it’s also just utter flop behavior. This likely won’t happen, but it would be tragic.

Moping to the bank

If Joker 2 makes anywhere from $45 to $55 million, then it will be exactly in line with current projections — Deadline is currently predicting it will make $50 million, as is Warner Bros., per the Wrap. So if it’s around projections, what’s the issue? Well, those projections suck, is the thing. The movie reportedly cost $190 million. Not great ROI!

Giggling to the bank

If Joker 2 makes anywhere between $55 and $65 million in the box office, then execs will get to giggle — at least they’d beat projections.

Cackling to the bank

Okay, this isn’t going to happen, but if Joker 2 makes anywhere above $70 million, then the movie is a surprise runaway success. It will be in the top 150 best box-office opening weekends of all time (the first movie currently sits at No. 82, per Box Office Mojo). Everyone will be cackling and also wondering what happened.