Box office earnings for ‘Joker: Folie à Deux,’ the latest film from director Todd Phillips, have plummeted in theaters.Even ‘The Apprentice,’ a feature film in which former American President Donald Trump is played by Romanian actor Sebastian Stan, failed to make an impression at its debut, according to Variety, as reported by News.ro..
In North America, earnings for the new Joker film totaled only $7. 05 million across 4,102 theaters.During its opening weekend, it made $40 million, which fell short of analysts’ expectations of ticket sales between $50 million and $65 million.
This was a genuine disaster considering the film’s production budget was $200 million, which did not include international distribution and promotion costs.For a movie vying for blockbuster status, these additional costs often match the actual production budget.
While some analysts were surprised by the underwhelming debut, the weekend’s collapse was largely anticipated.This was due to the fact that the musical sequel to the acclaimed Joker from 2019 received a ‘D’ rating, the lowest from the American grading system.This rating came from CinemaScore, the market research company that conducts interviews with audiences as they exit a film to gauge their impressions.
Folie à Deux thus became the first film in history based on DC or Marvel comic books that failed to receive even a passing grade from North American audiences.The drop in ticket sales from one week to the next for Folie à Deux was even more severe than some of the weakest films recently released by DC and Marvel: The Marvels (a 78. 1% drop from the opening weekend to the following one), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (69. 9%), Shazam: Fury of the Gods (69%), and The Flash (72. 5%).
Although earnings for Joker 2 during its opening weekend were below expectations, they were enough to secure the top spot at the box office.However, it lost that crown just a week after its premiere and dropped to third place in the rankings that measure box office earnings.
A horror film rises to the top of the box office
In contrast, the horror movie Terrifier 3, featuring a clown terrorizing a small town, earned $18. 3 million this weekend from 2,514 North American theaters.While these figures may not seem spectacular, the debut is excellent for an independent film with a low budget, and it secured the top box office position.
Moreover, the third installment of Terrifier has already surpassed the global earnings of its predecessor, Terrifier 2 from 2022.That film exceeded expectations by earning $10 million domestically and $15. 7 million globally, which is an exceptional result for a low-budget production.
The third film, also directed by Damien Leone, features the sadistic clown Art, who typically attacks around Halloween but has decided to wait until Christmas to unleash his terror this time.
The animated film The Wild Robot from Universal and DreamWorks Animation recorded ticket sales of $13. 45 million in its third weekend of release.Following the drop of Joker 2, it rose to second place in the box office rankings.
This family-friendly feature has received stellar reviews and achieved a rare feat: it is well-regarded by both film critics and general audiences.On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, for instance, it boasts a 98% approval rating from both critics and regular viewers.On IMDb, where users can vote freely, it has an average rating of 8. 5/10 from nearly 20,000 reviews.
The Wild Robot has collected $83. 73 million domestically and $148 million globally to date.Considering its production budget of $78 million, it is already a financial success and will likely continue to sell tickets in theaters over the coming weeks.
Family-friendly animated films generally exhibit greater resilience in theaters compared to other genres of feature films.The films Beetlejuice Beetlejuice from Tim Burton and Transformers One completed the top five in the box office rankings.
‘The Apprentice,’ featuring Sebastian Stan as Trump, barely made it into the top 10 box office
Premiering in May at the Cannes International Film Festival, the feature film The Apprentice, in which Romanian actor Sebastian Stan plays a young Donald Trump, has now finally made its debut in theaters.At Cannes, the film received open applause for Stan, Iranian-Danish director Ali Abbasi, and the other members of the production team.
The Apprentice portrays Trump’s rise to power through what is described as a ‘Faustian deal’ with influential right-wing attorney and political fixer Roy Cohn, played in the film by actor Jeremy Strong.The image presented by the film of the former U.S.president is far from flattering, which is why it was vehemently criticized by Trump’s team immediately following its presentation at the festival in France.
‘This trash is pure fiction sensationalizing lies that have long been debunked,’ the spokesperson for Trump’s campaign stated in a release at that time.
Dan Snyder, a billionaire close to the former president, initially contributed to the film’s production funding, expecting it to portray Trump positively.However, after viewing the final cut, he consulted with his attorneys to try to halt its release.
The film has now been released, less than a month ahead of the U.S.presidential elections, intending to show audiences key moments in Trump’s career that the former president would wish to forget.However, given that The Apprentice has faced intense attacks from his camp for months, it has likely been boycotted by his supporters and those of the Republican Party.
Based on box office earnings during its debut weekend, it seems that neither Democrat supporters nor Trump critics rushed to see Ali Abbasi’s feature film.
The Apprentice debuted at the box office in the tenth position with $1. 58 million from 1,740 theaters.
It received a ‘B-‘ rating from CinemaScore and a 78% approval rating from film critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
