Things aren’t going so well for Warner Bros. and its most recent release, “Joker: Folie à Deux.” The film debuted in theaters this past weekend and had a dismal showing, both in box office and in customer ratings. To put it in perspective, the film somehow had a lower CinemaScore than Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” [D vs. D+, respectively]. But that didn’t actually stop the aforementioned Coppola from praising Todd Phillips’ new ‘Joker’ sequel.
In a post on Instagram, Francis Ford Coppola took a moment out of his weekend to praise Todd Phillips’ work on “Joker: Folie à Deux.” As mentioned, this comes at a time when there isn’t a lot of good word going around about the sequel. The film has earned a terrible 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. Somehow, the audience score is actually worse at 31%. Then take into consideration the ‘D’ CinemaScore, and it looks like ‘Folie à Deux’ might be one of the biggest bombs on 2024. But again, Coppola is a fan.
“[Todd Phillips’] films always amaze me and I enjoy them thoroughly,” wrote Coppola. “Ever since the wonderful ‘The Hangover’ he’s always one step ahead of the audience never doing what they expect. Congratulations to ‘Joker: Folie à Deux!’”
Being “one step ahead of the audience” would normally be a good thing for a filmmaker. However, with “Joker: Folie à Deux,” that might have been the film’s downfall. The ‘Joker’ sequel decided to zig when everyone wanted a zag by being a jukebox musical. So, many of those fans of the original film, which earned over $1.1 billion, felt confused and disappointed.
Of course, it’s always good news when you have someone like Coppola praising your film. Though, again, coming off the failure of “Megalopolis,” a Coppola endorsement might not be the most prized possession.
“Joker: Folie à Deux” is available now in theaters.