Box Office: ‘Joker 2’ Singing Off-Key With $20 Million Opening Day

“Joker: Folie à Deux” is off to a shaky performance at the domestic box office after earning $20 million from 4,102 locations across Friday and preview screenings. Rivals project that Warner Bros.’ sequel to the 2019 DC Comic book film “Joker” will open south of $50 million.

Heading into the weekend, “Joker 2” was expected to make $50 million to $65 million in its box office debut. Although “Folie à Deux” is on track to secure the top spot on domestic charts, the film’s opening weekend will fall significantly behind the first “Joker,” which earned $96.2 million.

Joaquin Phoenix’s titular Batman villain is back in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” and he’s now joined by Lady Gaga as the equally insane Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (aka Harley Quinn). “Folie à Deux” serves as a twisted musical and love story from the minds of Joker and Harley and also stars Brendan Gleeson, Harry Lawtey and Catherine Keener.

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2019’s “Joker” made an astounding $1.07 billion at the global box office from a tiny $65 million budget; “Folie à Deux,” on the other hand, carries a $200 million price tag and hasn’t received as many positive reviews as its predecessor. The sequel earned a “D” grade through research firm CinemaScore’s survey of early crowds.

Several holdovers rounded out the top five on box office charts. “The Wild Robot” dropped to second place with $4.9 million from 3,997 locations on its second Friday, down 56% from its opening day. Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s sci-fi adventure film has now surpassed $50 million domestically.

In third place, Tim Burton and Warner Bros.’ “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” scared up $2.7 million from 3,576 theaters on Friday. The spooky sequel, now in its fifth weekend of release, has surpassed $250 million at the domestic box office.

“Transformers One” took the No. 4 spot after earning $1.3 million on its third Friday from 3,106 locations. The animated prequel, co-produced by Paramount Animation and Hasbro Entertainment, is on track to make $5.5 million over the weekend, down 39% from its sophomore outing.

In fifth place, “Speak No Evil,” Universal and Blumhouse’s remake of the 2022 Danish horror film, is looking at $2.8 million in its fourth weekend of release after grossing $840,000 on Friday.

Also opening this weekend, Lionsgate’s “White Bird,” a prequel and sequel to the Jacob Tremblay-starring “Wonder” from 2017, earned an estimated $660,000 from 1,018 locations on its opening day.