Box Office Round-Up ~ 10/9/24
Laugher apparently isn’t always the best medicine, as Joaquin Phoenix’s award-winning take on the Joker returned to theaters to a less-than-stellar box office reception. Musical sequel Joker: Folie à Deux (co-starring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn) debuted with a disappointing $37.6 million, less than half of its predecessor’s opening weekend gross back in 2019. Almost universally negative reviews and word-of-mouth will likely cause further damage in the coming weeks, certainly not the outcome DC or Warner Bros. hoped when they returned to Todd Phillip’s take on the legendary Batman villain.
Elsewhere in the top five, The Wild Robot had a strong second place finish in its sophomore weekend, grossing $18.8 million to pass $60 million overall. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice wound down its successful theatrical run with $10.1 million in its fifth weekend. It has grossed over $260 million overall domestically as it makes the transition to digital/streaming.
Transformers One was the only movie in the top five to beat expectations, grossing $5.3 million for a three-weekend total of $47 million. It’s still been a underwhelming theatrical performance, despite some positive word-of-mouth. Rounding out the top five was Speak No Evil, holding strong into the Halloween season with $2.7 million in its fourth weekend.
1. Joker: Folie à Deux ($37.6 MM)
Director: Todd Phillips (CAA)
Writers: Scott Silver (CAA), Todd Phillips (CAA)
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix (WME)
Lady Gaga (CAA)
Brendan Gleeson (CAA)
2. The Wild Robot ($18.8 MM)
Director: Chris Sanders (WME)
Writers: Chris Sanders (WME)
Cast: Lupita Nyong'o (CAA)
Pedro Pascal (CAA)
Kit Connor (WME)
3. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ($10.1 MM)
Director: Tim Burton (WME)
Writers: Alfred Gough (WME), Miles Millar (WME), Seth Grahame-Smith (WME)
Cast: Michael Keaton (CAA)
Winona Ryder (Anonymous Content)
Catherine O'Hara (CAA)
4. Transformers One ($5.3 MM)
Director: Josh Cooley (CAA)
Writers: Eric Pearson (CAA), Andrew Barrer (CAA), Gabriel Ferrari (CAA)
Cast: Chris Hemsworth (CAA)
Brian Tyree Henry (CAA)
Scarlett Johansson (CAA)
5. Speak No Evil ($2.7 MM)
Director: James Watkins (WME)
Writers: James Watkins (WME), Christian Tafdrup (WME), Mads Tafdrup (WME)
Cast: James McAvoy (UTA)
Mackenzie Davis (UTA)
Scoot McNairy (UTA)
Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers