Warner Bros’ Todd Phillips directed sequel Joker: Folie à Deux earned $7M in previews last night that began at 3PM, a number that indicates that the $190M+ movie could possibly get to a $50M opening, particularly when comped against such movies that exceeded that threshold in their starts, Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning ($7M), No Time to Die ($6.3M) and John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum ($5.9M).
Forget about the fact that Joker 2‘s previews are off -47% from the first 2019 film’s $13.3M previews, which mushroomed to a $39.3M Friday and the biggest October domestic opening of all-time with $96.2M. We knew that was going to happen.
What’s not funny is the Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak audience exits for Joker 2 which tell a different story…
While many knew this Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga combo would be challenged in the fact that it was a musical, the fanboys full out rejected the sequel last night on PostTrak with a 1/2 star and 40% positive. Holy guacamole, Batman. Did the Megalopolis cynics show up last night? Because that’s the same Thursday night grade (actually 45% positive) that the Francis Ford Coppola directed $120M dystopian epic received a week ago before inching up to one star on PostTrak. Or, wait, did PostTrak switch up the reports?: Lionsgate’s Helen Mirren movie White Bird received five stars last night! That feature take of R.J. Palacio’s novel, which is a sequel and prequel to Wonder, is only expected to make $2M this weekend on 1,018 theaters after a $275K Thursday night. Reviews for the movie stand at 72% on Rotten Tomatoes.
A very low 24% say they’ll definitely recommend Joker 2 to their friends. God knows what this means for Joker 2‘s stability throughout the weekend. RT audience score for Joker 2 is also in the gutter at 37% with critical reviews plummeting from 62% fresh to 39% Rotten.
BTW, CinemaScore exits are usually more gentle than PostTrak — but God knows where that will be. Megalopolis received a D+ last weekend. Also, Joker 2‘s previews are $400K higher than the $6.6M The Marvels from November 2023 which fell apart with a $46.1M opening — the lowest ever for a Marvel Studios Disney title.
Rest of the week was as follows
1.) Wild Robot (Uni) 3,962 theaters, Thu $2M (+9% from Wednesday), Wk $45M/Wk 1
2.) Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (WB) 3,804 theaters, Thu $972K (-12%), Wk $20.9M, Total $255M/Wk 4
3.) Transformers One (Par) 3,970 (-8) theaters, Thu $602k (-1%), Wk $11.9M, Total $41.7M/Wk 2
4.) Speak No Evil (Uni) 2,971 (-704) theaters, Thu $287K (-28%), Wk $5.9M, Total $29.7M/Wk 3
5.) Devara Part 1 (Prath) 1,040 theaters, Thu $78K (-40%), Wk $5.57M/Wk 1
6.) Megalopolis (LG) 1,854 theaters, Thu $233K (-34%), Wk $5.4M/Wk 1
More…