New reports reveal what led toJoker: Folie à Deux’s disastrous critical and box office performance, pointing to director Todd Phillips' refusal to work closely with Warner Bros. andDC. Despite the massive success of Todd Phillips’Joker,Joker: Folie à Deuxgathered some of the worst opening weekend numbersin its genre, as well as some of the lowest critic and audience ratings in comic book movie history. Among its many criticisms,Joker: Folie à Deux’s dire ending, sluggish soundtrack, and appalling treatment of Arthur Fleck have been some of the biggest points of contention.
A little shy of a week afterJoker: Folie à Deux’s release,Varietyreports that director Todd Phillips retained nearly absolute creative control over the movie. According toVariety’s sources, Phillips refused to film in London for a 20% cost reduction in favor of Los Angeles, ignored notes from DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, and did"little to dispel the appearance of friction"with DC. Phillips allegedly refused to screen-testJoker: Folie à Deuxand pushed to debut the film at the Venice Film Festival against the studios' plans.Varietyreports:
“No one could get through to Todd,” says one source directly involved with the film. “And the one thing about genre stuff: If you don’t listen and pay attention to what the fan expectations are, you’re going to fail.”
What Todd Phillips Approach To Joker 2 Means For The Sequel & Warner Bros
Joker’s Success Gave Todd Phillips Too Much Power Over The Sequel
Todd Phillips envisionedJokeras a completely standalone movie, not as the beginning of a franchise or a trilogy. AfterJokergrossed over $1 billion on a $55 million budget, however, a sequel was inevitable.It seems like Warner Bros. readJoker’s success as a sign that Todd Phillips could recreate similar results with a sequel, which is probably whyJoker: Folie à Deux’s budget ballooned to $200 million. With a higher budget came more creative freedom, and Todd Phillips apparently took advantage of this creative freedom to ignore any and all external advice. As a result, Warner Bros. couldn’t adjust the film to meet critics' and audiences' expectations.
Our Take On Joker 2’s BTS Turmoil
All Movies As Big As Joker: Folie A Deux Need To Be Reworked Multiple Times Before Hitting Theaters
As revealing as the reports may be,the blame forJoker: Folie à Deux’s failuremay not fall entirely on director Todd Phillips. Warner Bros.' decision to greenlight a big-budget sequel to a standalone movie that specifically didn’t set up follow-up stories was extremely risky from the start. Reports also claim that the idea forJoker: Folie a Deuxcame to Joaquin Phoenix in a dream.Between attempting to recreate the first movie’s success, subvertingJoker’s story, and letting Phillips and Phoenix’s imagination run wild, it doesn’t seem like there was a clear purpose behindJoker: Folie à Deux.
I Finally Understand Why Lady Gaga Said Joker 2 Wasn’t Really A Musical
Having seen Joker: Folie á Deux, I now understand Lady Gaga’s comments that the movie isn’t a musical (but that doesn’t mean I like the reason why).
On top of that, the decision to makeJoker: Folie à Deuxa musical should have immediately raised questions about its critical and commercial projections. It should have also been evident that the decision to kill off Arthur Fleck wasn’t going to sit well with most viewers — let alone after Arthur’s Joker persona failed to shine for more than two hours. IfJoker: Folie à Deuxwas aiming for a strong box office, building up on whatJokerhad established was probably the way to go. If the sequel was instead aiming to fulfill the director’s creative vision, a much smaller budget could have been more appropriate.
