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Five years after the first film was released and earned over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie a Deux, aka Joker 2, has arrived in theaters, but the critics and audiences are not responding well to the sequel. The first installment was well-received and even earned Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar, but the sequel seems to fall short. While there are many things at play to blame for the poor performance of the film, a recent claim revealed that Warner Bros decided not to have any test screenings for the magnum opus.
Joker became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time back then, and fans were expecting far more from Joker: Folie a Deux. A part of Joker’s success was also its low budget of $55 million, due to which Warner Bros had more faith in part two and gambled it with a hefty budget of $200 million. The studio took too many risks with the film, given its musical theme, and it failed to meet expectations at ticket windows.
According to a report on Matt Belloni’s Puck newsletter, “Despite the risky musical element and dry courtroom sequences, I’m told Warners declined to test screen Folie à Deux to get audience feedback before Phillips locked the film. That’s quite a tightrope to walk on the studio’s most expensive movie of the year.”
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