Box Office Report: Warner Bros’ Fumble â Deux
Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.
Weekend Box Office Report: October 4th, 2024 to October 6th, 2024
It was a disappointing start for Warner Bros.'s Joker: Folie à Deux, which debuted with just $37.68 million this weekend. That was well below consensus pre-release expectations, which had already been scaled back to roughly $50 million to $60 million heading into the weekend (as well as below the film's weekend estimate of $40.0 million as of Sunday morning). Although Joker: Folie à Deux hadn't been expected to open anywhere near the $96.20 million start of 2019's Joker; the follow-up ended up opening 60.8 percent below its predecessor. Adding insult to injury, the opening weekend performance for Joker: Folie à Deux even came in below the recent lower-end comic book based debuts of film such as last year's The Marvels ($46.11 million) and 2022's Morbius ($39.01 million). Making matters even worse is that Joker was significantly more expensive than its predecessor was. Joker: Folie à Deux saw the return of Joker director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix, and also added Lady Gaga as Harleen Quinn into the mix this time around. While merging the Joker fanbase with Lady Gaga's fanbase initially felt like a can't miss idea, at the end of the day Joker: Folie à Deux clearly didn't equal the sum of its parts at the box office.
It's also clear that the mostly negative critical reviews and poor early word of mouth for Joker: Folie à Deux already made a negative impact on the film this weekend. After starting out with a so-so $20.26 million on Friday (which included an estimated $7.0 million from Thursday preview shows that began at 3PM and sneak preview shows on Monday), the film dropped a troubling 44.4 percent on Saturday to gross $11.26 million and then declined a similar 45.3 percent on Sunday to take in $6.16 million. The film's opening weekend to opening day ratio of 1.86 to 1 and opening weekend to preview gross ratio of 5.38 to 1 are obviously very troubling signs for Joker: Folie à Deux going forward (as is the film's poor D rating on CinemaScore). At this point it would be quite the surprise if Joker: Folie à Deux doesn't prove to have an extremely front-loaded run the rest of the way. Joker: Folie à Deux grossed an estimated $5.0 million from domestic IMAX screens this weekend.
As had been expected, Joker: Folie à Deux performed much better internationally than domestically this weekend. The film started out with $77.0 million from 76 international markets. That places the global launch for Joker: Folie à Deux at $114.7 million. However, it should be reminded that the international gross for Joker was much higher than that film's domestic gross as well. Debuts for Joker: Folie à Deux by international market this weekend included $7.6 million in the United Kingdom, $5.7 million in Germany, $5.4 million in Italy, $5.3 million in Mexico, $4.8 million in France, $4.3 million in Brazil, $3.7 million in South Korea, $3.0 million in Australia and $2.9 million in Spain. Joker: Folie à Deux still has Japan and China left to open in; the film opens in Japan this coming Friday (October 11) and in China the following Wednesday (October 16). Joker: Folie à Deux grossed an estimated $5.0 million from international IMAX screens this weekend, for a global IMAX total of $10.0 million.
Universal and DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot placed in second this weekend with $18.90 million. That represented a 47.2 percent decline from last weekend's debut. While The Wild Robot had a respectable second weekend hold, the well-received computer animated film also experienced a notable drop-off from last weekend, especially when factoring in the strong critical and audience receptions for the film, as well as the lack of new competition in the marketplace this weekend for family audiences. With that said, in all likelihood The Wild Robot will begin to stabilize by this coming weekend, especially given the mentioned positive factors the film has going for it. The ten-day domestic total for The Wild Robot stands at a promising $64.18 million.
As The Wild Robot continued its international roll-out this weekend, the film took in $13.1 million from 36 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $36.6 million and the film's current global haul to $100.7 million. International debuts for The Wild Robot this weekend included $2.1 million in Germany and $1.7 million in South Korea. Additional totals through Sunday for The Wild Robot by international market include $7.9 million in Mexico, $7.6 million in Australia, $6.6 million in China, $1.1 million in Central America and $1.0 million in Chile. The Wild Robot will open in a number of new international markets in the coming week, including France on Wednesday (October 9), Brazil and Italy on Thursday (October 10) and Spain on Friday (October 11); before opening in the United Kingdom the following Friday (October 18).
Warner Bros. continued to have much better news with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, as the blockbuster sequel took third place this weekend with $10.14 million. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was down 37.5 percent from last weekend, which was a solid hold, especially given the new competition from fellow Warner Bros. release Joker: Folie à Deux. In addition to continuing to be helped out by good critical reviews and good word of mouth, as well as the continuing lead-up to Halloween, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was also aided this weekend by holding onto a high percentage of its locations and showtimes from last weekend. The 31-day domestic total for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stands at a strong $265.32 million.
This weekend saw Beetlejuice Beetlejuice surpass the $400 million global mark. The film grossed $8.6 million internationally this weekend from 77 international markets. Respective totals for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stand at $137.5 million internationally and at $402.8 million globally. Totals through Sunday for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice by international market include $30.0 million in the United Kingdom, $18.6 million in Mexico, $13.1 million in France, $8.9 million in Australia, $8.4 million in Spain, $6.1 million in Germany, $5.6 million in Italy, $3.9 million in Brazil and $3.0 million in Poland.
Paramount's Transformers One placed in fourth this weekend with $5.39 million. On the heels of last weekend's sharp second weekend decline, the well-received computer animated film stabilized significantly this weekend by declining a respectable 41.2 percent. Transformers One has grossed $47.26 million through 17 days of release. While that's softer than expected, the film will hope to continue to stabilize going forward. Internationally, Transformers One grossed an estimated $7.9 million this weekend from 61 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $49.8 million (including $18.0 million in China) and current global total to $97.1 million.
Universal and Blumhouse's Speak No Evil grossed $2.77 million to remain in fifth place this weekend. Speak No Evil continued to display good holding power this weekend, as the R-rated thriller declined 35.0 percent from last weekend. With a 24-day domestic gross of $32.55 million, Speak No Evil has a current total gross to opening weekend ratio of 2.86 to 1. Internationally, Speak No Evil grossed $3.0 million this weekend from 77 international markets. Respective totals for Speak No Evil stand at $34.8 million internationally and at $67.4 million globally (which is very solid with the film’s modest price-tag in mind).
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