Warner Bros. recently suffered a huge failure with the film “Joker: Folie a Deux”, i.e. “Joker 2” immediately made a hit at the box office, with an opening weekend of $37.8 million. Given the absolutely poor reviews for Todd Phillips' historically poor D CinemaScore sequel, it's safe to say that the ticket sales race starting Friday will be surprisingly close. On Monday morning, another killer clown could top the charts.
Surprisingly, considering “Joker” is dropping like a rock this weekend, Bloody Disgusting and Cineverse's “Terrifier 3,” the invaluable, extremely gory slasher, now have a real chance to top the box office. Deadline The sequel to “Terrifier 2” directed by Damien Leone is expected to earn at least $11 million over the weekend. His prospects have only improved in recent days/weeks. Meanwhile, “Folie a Deux” will likely see a decline of at least 70% in its second weekend, meaning it will struggle to get to $11 million. The math suddenly says that Art the Clown will win over Arthur Fleck. This is, to say the least, a stunning turn of events.
The first “Joker” opened to over $96 million and went on to gross over $1 billion worldwide. It was a runaway success, and Joaquin Phoenix won the Academy Award for Best Leading Actor for his portrayal of Arthur Fleck. To say that the sequel's fall out of the gate is surprising would be an understatement.
On the other side of the fence, the first “Terrifier” was a cult hit at best when it was released in 2016. However, in 2022, “Terrifier 2” was a runaway success, grossing over $15 million worldwide on a budget of just $250,000. It put the franchise on the map and helped make David Howard Thornton's Art the Clown an icon of the modern slasher film.
A historic weekend full of clowns at the box office is coming up
There's a lot to talk about, and we'll have more to say on Monday morning when we get the final numbers. It's impossible to predict the future yet, but given the data we have in front of us, it's safe to say that no matter what happens, we will be shocked. There's an outside shot where both movies fall short of expectations, while “Wild Robot” does well and tops the charts as a family-friendly option.
Either way, it's going to be an outright disaster for Warner Bros. “Joker: Folie a Deux” has a production budget of $200 million, unlike the first film, which cost around $60 million. At this point, a sequel would be incredibly lucky to make $300 million worldwide. WB will lose a fortune. The only good news is that DC Studios had nothing to do with “Joker 2.” Studio heads James Gunn and Peter Safran can wash their hands of this.
When it comes to “Terrifier 3,” everything is positive for everyone involved. The total investment cost – including marketing – is estimated at $5 million. No matter what, there will be profits on Monday. Less than a week ago, we predicted a top-shelf $10 million debut for Leone's holiday slasher. Now? We might as well look at the first unrated film I could find that topped the box office in North America. What a time to be alive.
“Terrifier 3” will hit theaters on October 11, 2024.
