Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav Admits Joker 2 Was ‘Disappointing’

Warner Bros. Discovery under CEO David Zaslav has made a series of confusing decisions that seem at odds with meeting the demands of fans. Notable among its highlight reel of letdowns is the illegal cancellation of a daring cartoon show Trash rules and erasure completed Batgirl tax write off film. Although Warner Bros. often prefers to blow past its low lights as a natural part of the entertainment business, Zaslav owns the fact that Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie in Deux it was a great depression.

Earlier today, on the Warner Bros. earnings call. (first reported by IGN), Zaslav singled out the sequel while expressing his dismay at the company’s uneven performance.

“Inconsistency remains an issue at our animation studio, as recently reinforced by disappointing results The Joker 2,” said Zaslav.

Zaslav’s comments come next The Joker 2 box office bombing. In its opening weekend, the gritty DC musical made $37.8 million; it has since grossed less than $60 million domestically. Suffice it to say that not many people came out to watch The Joker 2 in theaters. This is not helped by the fact that the film received a CinemaScore of D, the lowest grade given to a comic book movie. To put things in context, the previous title holder was Fantastic Fourwhich earned a C-.

Even standing on the curve of the 2019 Oscars preliminaries, with 68% favorable from critics and 89% from fans on Rotten Tomatoes, The Joker 2 it currently sits at 32% for both groups. Compared to the film’s $200 billion budget, it was no surprise to see the film quickly receive a digital and video-on-demand release just over two weeks after its theatrical release on October 29.

As IGN notes, Warner Bros. Discovery reported its Q3 revenue of $9.6 billion, which for the pedantic among us means the media conglomerate was down 3% year-over-year. Accordingly, theatrical revenue fell by 40% year-over-year. According to IGN, this decrease in revenue is due to the low box office performance of similar films Beetlejuiceand again Twisters against the success of 2023 Barbie. IGN also reports that Warner Bros. Discovery “doesn’t work that well” in games either. In short, things are not looking too hot for the company.

In the io9 update, we wrote “Joker: Folie in Deux it is less about Arthur than it is about him. It’s a film with a character that isn’t sure what it wants to be, or what it is, so it fumbles and ultimately decides it doesn’t want to be anything at all. At least the first one The Joker leave you with things to think about. Here you are left frustrated at everything that could have been or never was.”

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

I watched “Joker: Folie à Deux.” The beginning of the film is an animated sequence, reminiscent of the nostalgic “Looney Tunes”, which shows the story of the Joker’s shadow and Joker In the next test, the question of his multiple personality is debated from beginning to end. pic.twitter.com/eEKRX4zPkD

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) November 3, 2024

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