Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, which added US$18.7 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to nearly US$64 million. Globally, it’s made over US$100 million. Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice took third place in weekend five, Paramount’s Transformers One landed in fourth and Universal and Blumhouse’s Speak No Evil rounded out the top five.
The other big new release of the weekend, Lionsgate’s White Bird, flopped with just US$1.5 million from just over 1,000 locations, despite an A+ CinemaScore.
Overall, the weekend is up from the same frame last year, but Joker’s start is an unwelcome twist for theatre owners hoping to narrow the box office deficit.
Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix have said they aspired to make something as “audacious” as the first film. The sequel added Lady Gaga into the fold, as a Joker superfan, and delved further into the mind of Arthur Fleck, imprisoned at Arkham and awaiting trial for the murders he committed in the first. It’s also a musical, with elaborately imagined song and dance numbers to old standards. Gaga even released a companion album called Harlequin, alongside the film.
In his review for The Associated Press, Jake Coyle wrote that “Phillips has followed his very antihero take on the Joker with a very anti-sequel. It combines prison drama, courthouse thriller and musical, and yet turns out remarkably inert given how combustible the original was.”
The sequel has already been the subject of many think pieces, some who posit that the sequel was deliberately alienating fans of the first movie. In cruder terms, it’s been called a “middle finger.” But fans often ignore the advice of critics, especially when it comes to opening their wallets to see revered comic book characters on the big screen.
