‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ tops box office amid brutal reviews

“Joker: Folie à Deux,” the sequel to the hit 2019 movie based on the “Batman” comics archvillain, was the top box-office draw this weekend amid caustic reviews and audience disdain. The Warner Bros. Pictures’ (NASDAQ:WBD) feature grossed $40 million, according to studio estimates compiled by Comscore.

Review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes rated the new “Joker” at only 34% positive, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a “D” grade.

Expectations were high for the sequel, considering its predecessor opened to $92.2 million and broke box-office records in the United States and Canada. Analysts cited by Variety expected the new “Joker” to rack up $50 million to $65 million in its opening weekend.

Internationally, the movie amassed $81.1 million to debut with $121.1 million total.

In second place was “The Wild Robot,” an animated feature from Universal Pictures (NASDAQ:CMCSA), with $18.7 million in its second weekend.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” hung on to third place for Warner Bros. (WBD) with $10.3 million in its fifth weekend, bringing the domestic total to $265.5 million.

The following studio reported estimates compiled by researcher Comscore for the United States and Canada. Final numbers will be reported on Monday.

1. “Joker: Folie à Deux,” $40 million

2. “The Wild Robot,” $18.7 million

3. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $10.3 million

4. “Transformers One,” $5.3 million

5. “Speak No Evil,” $2.8 million

7. “White Bird,” $1.53 million

8. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” $1.35 million.

9. “The Substance,” $1.35 million