No, I didn’t see Joker: Folie à Deux this past
weekend … and apparently, neither did a lot of people. As reported by Variety,
the $200 million musical sequel to 2019’s billion-dollar Joker pulled in
a paltry $40 million domestically in its opening weekend. So, why we did all
steer clear this time around?
Well, it’s complicated. Indeed, many fans of the first film
were less-than-enthused by the singing-and-dancing slant of the sequel, and not
even the star power of Lady Gaga as the Harley Quinn to Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker
(a.k.a. Arthur Fleck) could pull her legions of Little Monsters into Todd
Phillips’ dark, dirty and depressing Gotham a second time. Apathetic-to-antagonistic
early buzz and a general “does this movie need to exist?” sentiment among moviegoers
resulted in a collective shrug that delivered yet another DC Comics loss for
Warner Bros. Discovery.
But let’s be real – are these actually DC Comics movies?
Aside from the grease paint, a character called “Harley Quinn,” references to
the Wayne family and Arkham and, of course, the aforementioned Gotham setting, do
these movies really have much of anything to do with the source material? I’d
argue that the connection is tenuous at best even in the original film, serving
to give Phillips the chance to craft his ultimate tribute to Martin Scorcese
classics like Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy under the guise
of an IP-driven blockbuster. Heck, Phillips reportedly
had zero contact with DC Studios during production of the sequel, which is wild
considering that The Joker is the arch-nemesis of their most lucrative
character.
And that’s the thing. Consider that Deadpool &
Wolverine grossed more than $1.3 billion this summer – a film that wore its
pulpy roots on its spandex sleeve. Based on its intentional divide from the source
material – even moreso than that of the first film – Joker: Folie à Deux
is a throwback to a time when filmmakers were embarassed to make comic book
movies. And that’s not the kind of nostalgia that sells.
But things are looking up, up and away for DC Studios, whose
James Gunn-helmed Superman: Legacy kicks off a whole new live-action era
for Marvel’s Distinguished Competition. Until then, it seems like DC’s most
notorious criminal has been defeated … but not by Batman.
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