Warner Bros. Boss David Zaslav Admits Joker 2 Was ‘Disappointing’

Warner Bros. Discovery under the guiding hand of CEO David Zaslav has made a series of puzzling decisions that seem antithetical to meeting fan demands. Key among its highlight reel of letdowns include unceremoniously canceling daring animated show Scavengers Reign and scrapping the completed Batgirl film for tax write-offs. While Warner Bros. has often opted to breeze past its lowlights as a natural part of the entertainment business, Zaslav owned up to the fact that Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux was a big letdown.

Earlier today, in a Warner Bros. earnings call (first reported by IGN), Zaslav singled out the sequel while expressing his disappointment in the company’s uneven theatrical performance.

“Inconsistency also remains an issue at our motion picture studio, as reinforced recently by the disappointing results of Joker 2,” Zaslav said.

Zaslav’s comments come following Joker 2 bombing at the box office. On its opening weekend, the gritty DC musical made $37.8 million; it’s since grossed less than $60 million domestically. Suffice it to say, not many people went out of their way to watch Joker 2 in theaters. This isn’t helped by the fact that the film earned a CinemaScore of D, the lowest grade given to a comic book movie. To put things into context, the previous title holder was Fantastic Four, which earned a C-.

Even grading on the curve of its 2019 Oscar-winning predecessor, which has 68% positivity from critics and 89% from fans on Rotten Tomatoes, Joker 2 currently sits at 32% from both groups. When put against the film’s outlandish $200 million budget, it wasn’t surprising to witness the movie swiftly receive a digital and video-on-demand release a little over two weeks after its October 29 theatrical release.

As IGN notes, Warner Bros. Discovery reported its Q3 revenue of $9.6 billion, which for the pedestrians among us means the media conglomerate is down 3% year-over-year. Likewise, its theatrical revenue is down 40% year-over-year. According to IGN, this financial dip is due to the lower box office performance of films like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Twisters against the success of 2023’s Barbie. IGN also reports that Warner Bros. Discovery is “substantially underperforming” in gaming as well. In short, things aren’t looking too hot for the company.

In io9’s review, we wrote “Joker: Folie à Deux is less about Arthur than it’s a stand-in for him. It’s a movie and a character that isn’t quite sure what it wants to be, or even what it is, so it messes around and ultimately decides it doesn’t want to be anything at all. At least the first Joker left you with some things to think about. Here you’re just left frustrated at everything that could have been or never was.”

Not everyone is down on Joker 2, however. The film has found supporters in folks like Quentin Tarantino and Death Stranding game developer Hideo Kojima, who thinks the film will be looked upon fondly in the next decade.

I watched "Joker: Folie à Deux.” The beginning of the film is an animation sequence, reminiscent of the nostalgic "Looney Tunes", depicting a story of Joker and Joker’s shadow. In the trial that follows, the question of his multiple personality is argued from beginning to end. Is… pic.twitter.com/eEKRX4zPkD

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) November 3, 2024

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