Theatrical Preview: Joaquin Phoenix Teams Up With Lady Gaga for 'Joker: Folie à Deux'

Is everyone ready for an October full of sequels? Because that's exactly what we're getting this week, not just one, but two new sequels! Read on for Gold Derby's theatrical preview.

Warner Bros. delivered September's biggest hit with “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and hopes to follow it up with “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the oddly-titled sequel to 2019's $1 billion worldwide hit “Joker.” grossed $335 million of which came from North America after an opening of $96.2 million. Before Deadpool and Wolverine hit theaters last summer, it was the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.

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director Todd Phillips returns with Joaquin Phoenix He reprises the role of Arthur Fleck, also known as Joker, for which he won an Oscar in 2020 Zazie Beetz is there again. The big new addition to the cast, however, is a pop superstar Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, her first major film role since her starring role in “House of Gucci” (2021). She previously received an Oscar nomination for her performance in The Movie Bradley Cooperis the remake of “A Star is Born” (2018) and won for co-writing the song “Shallow.”

SEE Box office hit 2024: Any film that grossed more than $100 million

Since Phoenix won his Oscar, he has kept busy with smaller films like Mike Mills' “Come on, come on” and Ari AsterNeither appeared in 1999's “Beau is Afraid,” which established Phoenix as a new star at the box office. Last year, Phoenix also took on the title role in Ridley Scott“Napoleon,” which grossed $61.5 million domestically and $156.4 million overseas.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in early September to mixed reviews there, currently sitting at 63% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's only slightly lower than the reviews for the first Joker film, which received a significantly higher audience score.

It's important to remember that Joker is essentially Batman's greatest villain, which is why Phillips' previous film behaved more like a Batman film after the success of Batman Christopher Nolan And Zack Snyderis the turn of this character. The return to the Joker character and the involvement of Lady Gaga certainly seem to be two important factors that should appeal to a similar mass audience.

Oh, and did we mention that the sequel is also a musical with songs and dances and everything? It's probably not worth delving too deeply into the history of musicals at the box office, as Warner Bros. has gone out of its way to hide that fact, but it probably contributed to these early and future reviews.

Despite all the positives, early tracking and ticket sales appear to be lower than some expected, which may keep “Joker: Folie à Deux” from joining the $100 million opening club, but it should go for $80 million or more be good, especially if the response is to it. The film was more positive after the preview on Monday evening.

SEE Grab the popcorn and start listening in our film forums

The hits continue for Lionsgate as they finally release “White Bird: A Wonder Story,” the follow-up spin-off to their 2017 hit “Wonder,” which grossed $132 million domestically and 310.7 worldwide grossed millions of US dollars. Given that success, it made sense to go back to the well and use this sequel as an adaptation RJ Palaciois the sequel to his earlier graphic novel. This follows Bryce GheisarThis is Julian Albans, one of the young people who bullied Jacob Tremblayis Auggie in “Wonder,” but more importantly, it stars the only Oscar winner Helen Mirrenas Julian's grandmother, who tells him stories about life in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. In a sense, it is actually a Holocaust film narrated by Mirren, which seems to have little to do with “Wonder.” It's a little strange to think that a sequel to such a huge hit could be a bomb, but Lionsgate had problems, and this film directed it Marc Forster Quantum of Solace was delayed by two years, which is concerning, even though Lionsgate made it happen Erwin Brothers“Kingdom Story Company seeks to appeal to the religious masses. Even with that in mind, it's safe to assume that “White Bird” will struggle to earn between $3 million and $5 million this weekend, although that should be enough to get into the top five.

There's also something called Monster Summer from distributor Pastime Pictures that stars Mel Gibson And Lorraine Bracco from “The Sopranos.” Apparently it's a horror adventure about a group of “Goonies”-like kids trying to save their island, but does anyone even know this movie exists?

As for limited releases, Saoirse Ronan Stars in it Nora FingscheidtThe drama “The Outrun”, based on the memoirs of Amy Liptrot about her problems with alcohol, which led her to a remote island off Scotland. Since the film's Sundance premiere garnered Ronan accolades, we'll have to wait and see what Sony Classics releases.

“Things Will Be Different” is a time jump crime thriller Michael Felkerin the main role Adam David Thompson And Riley Dandywhich Magnet Releasing will release in a limited edition this weekend. It's about siblings who are on the run after a robbery and face a mysterious force in a farmhouse.

Music Box Films is also releasing a bizarre French auteur film Quentin Dupieux“Daaaaaali!” is the 12th feature film in the last 17 years. about a French journalist meeting with the surrealist Salvador Dali to make a documentary.

Finally, there is the National Geographic documentary “Blink,” directed by the Oscar-winning documentarian Daniel Roher (“Navalny”) and Edmund Stenson about the Pelletier family from Montreal, where three of their children were diagnosed with the blinding disorder retinitis pigmentosa. The Doc accompanies them on a journey around the world so that the children can have new visual experiences before they lose their sight.

Check back on Sunday to see if any of these other films can have any influence on the new Joker film.

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