“Joker” Sequel Director Kept DC Out?

Screenshot: YouTube@Regal
Though earlier in the week it seemed that no-one wanted to point fingers, a new report in Variety that went online yesterday has indicated that serious questions are now being asked in regards to the failure of “Joker: Folie à Deux”.

Two people who are out of the fray are DC Studios chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The piece indicates the film’s director Todd Phillips “wanted nothing to do with DC” during the making of the film – which can be seen with the lack of a DC Studios logo on the front of the movie.

In fact, there seems to be an internal disconnect as Phillips reportedly bypassed any oversight from the DC brand’s gatekeepers and only dealt with WB film chiefs Michael DeLuca and Pamela Abdy, not Gunn or Safran. The DC pair did reportedly attend the early internal screening of the film.

Early on, Phillips reportedly met Warners CEO David Zaslav who allegedly was open to filming the project in Los Angeles if the director would make the sequel at a lower price point. Phillips allegedly insisted on shooting in Los Angeles and the film’s high budget was maintained.

Sources for the trade say the studio did not want to debut the film at the Venice Film Festival, but Phillips pushed back and got his way. Phillips also refused to test screen the film, making the Venice premiere the first time an audience outside the studio saw it.

One source tells the trade: “No one could get through to Todd, and the one thing about genre stuff: If you don’t listen and pay attention to what the fan expectations are, you’re going to fail.”

A WB spokesman tells the trade the studio always supported shooting in Los Angeles and supported the Venice premiere. Either way, they were left with a film that earned a D CinemaScore in audience exit polls – low enough it makes the “Madame Web” C+ CinemaScore from earlier this year look positively glowing.

The film reportedly needs to make at least $450 million theatrically to break even – a scenario that now seems unlikely. Warner Bros. is also dealing with a series of costly losses from the numerous DC Comics-inspired films last year, and the underwhelming results for “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”. It’s had a few hits as well though, most notably “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” lately along with “Dune: Part Two” and “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” early in the year.

Meanwhile, Gunn responded on social media to a question about test screenings for future DC projects to which he responded on Threads:

“Yes I use test screenings as a way to make films better. I think they’re helpful, as long as you aren’t slaves to them. They’re good for seeing in general what works, what doesn’t, and where potential confusions may be. (That said this isn’t me saying ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’ didn’t have test screenings – I have no clue as to whether it did or didn’t.)”

“Joker: Folie a Deux” is expected to see a fall of anywhere from 60-75% in its second weekend at the box-office and could well fall off the top spot domestically by the end of Sunday.