Grasp in there, Todd Phillips.
That was the message Francis Ford Coppola tried to get throughout in a social media submit on Saturday. As his new movie Megalopolis continues to bomb at the field workplace, he praised Todd Phillips for making Joker: Folie à Deux, which is likewise struggling.
The Joker sequel, which is launching in theaters round the globe this weekend, is opening effectively behind expectations after turning into the first Hollywood comedian ebook pic in historical past to obtain a D Cinemascore. The viewers backlash isn’t an enormous shock, contemplating that the follow-up is a musical, making for an uncommon hybrid that fanboys won’t have wished.
Coppola says Phillips’ movies have at all times amazed him and supplied enjoyment. He additionally urged that moviegoers will not be prepared for a movie such as Joker: Folie à Deux. “Ever since the wonderful The Hangover, he’s always been one step ahead of the audience never doing what they expect. Congratulations to Joker: Folie à Deux,” Coppola wrote on Instagram.
That’s solely barely worse than the D+ awarded to Megalopolis when it opened in cinemas final weekend. Coppola’s dystopian epic debuted to a mere $4 million in opposition to a manufacturing funds of $120 million earlier than advertising and marketing. No main studio would contact the film, so Coppola raised the funds himself, together with placing up some of his personal cash. Lionsgate got here aboard at the eleventh hour to distribute the film, which is on target to earn lower than $1 million this weekend.
Joker: Folie à Deux — a hybrid antihero pic and a musical that stars Joaquin Phoenix and Girl Gaga — had no hassle getting made after Phillips’ Joker grossed $1 billion globally in 2019 and earned quite a few Oscar nominations, as effectively as a finest actor win for Phoenix. The primary Joker value $55 million to make earlier than advertising and marketing; the sequel value a internet $190 million to $200 million, upping the stakes dramatically.
When Folie à Deux first got here on monitoring three weeks in the past, it seemed like it will open to $70 million. Whereas nonetheless behind the first movie’s $96 million home opening, it was a decent quantity. Nevertheless, as evaluations began coming in and the movie was screened for influences, curiosity waned and there was a notable dip in monitoring. Heading into this weekend, the forecast was $50 million to $60 million.
Primarily based on Friday’s opening day gross of $20 million, nevertheless, Folie à Deux appears to open in the low- to mid-$40 million vary (one rival studio even has it in the excessive $30 million vary).
Becoming a member of the D CinemaScore membership isn’t the solely factor that Coppola and Phillips have in frequent, as it seems.
Coppola stated in his Instagram submit he’s honored that Joker 2 cinematographer Lawrence Sher has talked about how Coppola’s notorious 1981 musical One From the Coronary heart — a crucial and industrial flop, which practically put his Zoetrope studio out of enterprise — supplied inspiration for Folie à Deux. (Lately, critics have revisited One From the Coronary heart, turning it into one thing of a cult basic.)
Reviewers haven’t been type to both Megalopolis or Joker 2, which have a 46 p.c and 33 p.c critic’s rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
