J“oker: Folie à Deux”'s weekend box office returns are no laughing matter

The sequel film debuted to a disappointing $40 million — the same amount the original 2019 film earned on its first day in theaters.

This isn’t another nightmare from the mind of Arthur Fleck, but just the harsh truth: Joker: Folie à Deux is drastically underperforming at the box office.

The genre-bending followup to Todd Phillips Oscar-winning smash hit Joker is not only being panned by critics, but also came in well below projections, debuting to an estimated $40 million domestically, per Comscore.

This is only a fraction of what the first film earned in its opening weekend — in fact, $40 million is the amount that Joker nabbed after a single day in theaters. The film went on to set an October box office record with an opening weekend of $96.2 million and became the first R-rated movie to cross the billion dollar mark (unadjusted for inflation).

Related: Joker: Folie à Deux ending reveals the true identity of the Joker in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment

Folie à Deux fared much better abroad, where it picked up an estimated $81.1 million for a global total of $121 million. The film’s underwhelming debut puts it well below fellow superhero sequel film The Marvels, whose box office opening of $47 million domestically marked a franchise low for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Joker: Folie à Deux pairs Joaquin Phoenix, the titular Joker, with Lady Gaga as his Harley Quinn. Both confined to Arkham Asylum, the duo cross paths and form a chaotic bond that leads to a path of destruction throughout Gotham City — which is punctuated by elaborate, fantastical musical elements.

“What happens when a guy who hears music inside his head finds love for the first time in his life? Maybe the music that he hears inside his head starts coming out. Why wouldn’t that music come out when he meets somebody who gives him the time of day? His biggest issue in the first movie, outside of childhood trauma, was a severe lack of love,” Phillips told EW.

The director also said the film is not a musical: “I got a little heat for saying it’s not really a musical. I wasn’t saying that because I’m afraid of the term, ‘musical.’ I love musicals, and the movie definitely has music in it. It might even be a musical,” he said. “To clarify, most of the times I’ve ever seen a musical, I walk out feeling better than I did when I walked in. On this movie, I’m not sure it’s the same thing. I wouldn’t want to be misleading and say you’re going to be whistling the songs from this movie on the way to your car after you see it."

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Elsewhere, audiences of all ages continued to celebrate the whimsy of Peter Brown's award-winning bestseller The Wild Robot, by showing up to theaters for DreamWorks Animation's adaptation of the beloved book. Domestically, the film raked in an additional $18.7 million towards a total of $63.9 million. Abroad, the film added $36.4 million towards a $111.3 million total.

Related: Lupita Nyong'o's roles in The Wild Robot and A Quiet Place have a surprising connection: I 'spent three months in silence'

The animated adventure follows the journey of a robot — ROZZUM unit 7134 or Roz for short (voiced by Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o) — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings. The bot gradually forges relationships with the animals of the island and becomes the adopted parent of an orphaned baby gosling.

"I remember seeing it for the first time," Nyong'o told Entertainment Weekly of a particularly striking scene, that sees Roz surrounded by a kaleidoscope of butterflies perched on a tree. "I think it was when they showed me the first trailer that was coming out, and I remember the flutter of the heart is what I felt. It's breathtaking. It reminds me of being surrounded by nature in ways that dwarf you and remind you how awe-inspiring the natural world really is."

The film boasts an all-star cast that includes Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara, Bill Nighy, Kit Connor, and Stephanie Hsu.

Related: The Wild Robot is the king of the box office jungle with debut, while Megalopolis suffers an apocalypse bow

Now in its fifth week of release, Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is holding on to the top 5 just as spooky season begins in earnest. The long-awaited sequel to 1988's Beetlejuice earned another $10.3 million towards its $265.5 million domestic total ($402.6 million globally).

Three weeks into its run, Transformers One pulled $5.3 million, bringing its domestic total to $47.2 million. An additional $7.9 abroad brings it global total to $97 million.

The animated entry into the blockbuster franchise delves into the past of some much beloved characters, telling the origin brother-in-arms Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) as they become sworn enemies, Optimus Prime and Megatron. The cast also includes Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Hamm, and Keegan-Michael Key.

Related: Speak No Evil director and cast explain why they based the movie on the terrifying Danish original

Coming in at No. 5 is Speak No Evil, the James McAvoy led thriller based on the 2022 Danish film of the same name. Another $2.8 million brings the film’s domestic total to $32.5 million, though it only earned around $3 million more abroad, for a global total of $67.4 million. The film follows a family’s trip to visit their vacation friends at an idyllic country home. But instead of rest and relaxation, they endure a series of misunderstandings that abruptly morph their dream holiday into a psychological nightmare.

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