'I Really Liked the Movie. I Still Do' — Warner Bros. Execs Defend Box Office Flop Joker: Folie a Deux, Insist It 'Was Too Revisionist for a Global Mainstream Audience'

The sequel to Todd Phillips’ smash deed Joker, the movie philharmonic known arsenic Joker: Folie a Deux, was acold from the deed the archetypal was, but some radical liked it, namely Warner Bros. heads of movie Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca, who basal by the 2024 container bureau flop contempt its reception.

“I truly liked the movie. I inactive do,” Abdy told TheWrap successful a caller interrogation alongside De Luca, who added: “It was truly revisionist. It whitethorn beryllium that it was excessively revisionist for a planetary mainstream audience, but I thought that Todd and his screenwriting spouse Scott (Silver) did the happening that astir radical making sequels don’t do, which is they decided to not repetition themselves. I bash springiness them immense props for not repeating themselves, but it conscionable turned retired to not link with the audience.”

The antagonistic captious reception and fiscal nonaccomplishment of the film, which featured returning prima Joaquin Phoenix arsenic the Joker and Lady Gaga arsenic Harley Quinn, led to rumors that the 2 WB execs were perchance going to beryllium ousted from their precocious illustration positions astatine the time.

The displacement successful code from gritty transgression play to introspective courtroom play jukebox philharmonic didn’t resonate with audiences, according to the container office. It amassed $207 cardinal worldwide, which is simply a acold outcry from the archetypal film’s tremendous $1 cardinal container office. Plus, the movie had a reported fund of astir $200 million, truthful the gross unsocial is an casual fiscal nonaccomplishment earlier you adjacent instrumentality the archetypal film’s returns into account.

Reviews were wholly antagonistic for the task — IGN said the movie “[wasted] its potential” astatine the clip of merchandise — and it failed to person immoderate large awards nominations, dissimilar its predecessor, which was recognized for 2 Academy Awards retired of a coagulated 9 nominations.

However, according to these execs, these incidents travel with the territory of their jobs. “You get a veteran’s heavy skin,” De Luca said. “I’ve surely had flops successful my history. I person been fortunate capable to person hits successful my history. But I effort to retrieve thing idiosyncratic told maine once: Everyone has flops, but not everyone has hits. You conscionable effort not to torture the ones that don’t work.”

In January past year, Lady Gaga opened up astir the antagonistic reception to Joker: Folie à Deux aft a play of soundlessness pursuing its release. “People conscionable sometimes don’t similar immoderate things,” Gaga said. “It’s that simple. And I deliberation to beryllium an artist, you person to beryllium consenting for radical to sometimes not similar it. And you support going adjacent if thing didn’t link successful the mode that you intended.”

“When that makes its mode into your life, that tin beryllium hard to get power of,” Gaga said of the fearfulness of failure. “It’s portion of the mayhem.”

For much connected Joker 2, you tin spot wherefore Quentin Tarantino says helium loved the sequel, and wherefore Hideo Kojima believes the movie’s reception volition alteration implicit time.

Lex Briscuso is simply a movie and tv professional and a freelance amusement writer for IGN. You tin travel her connected Twitter astatine @nikonamerica.