Warner Bros made Joker into a $200M musical — and lost $150–200M

The 2019 Joker grossed over $1 billion worldwide on a $60 million budget and won Joaquin Phoenix a Best Actor Oscar. Warner Bros responded by scaling the sequel to match the success: Variety reported the Folie à Deux budget hit $200 million — with Phoenix paid $20 million, Lady Gaga $12 million, and writer-director Todd Phillips $20 million — roughly triple the first film's outlay.

Released October 4, 2024, the jukebox-musical sequel opened to $37.7 million domestically against an industry break-even estimate of $450 million and earned a D CinemaScore. Deadline's own preview had eyed a $140 million global start; the film instead became one of 2024's defining bombs.

Variety reported in October that the theatrical run was expected to lose $150–200 million, a figure Warner Bros called 'grossly wrong' — though analysts' range ran from $125 million to $200 million. The post-mortem centered on the same decisions: Phillips 'wanted nothing to do' with DC oversight, and the creative bet — a musical courtroom romance — rejected the audience the original had built.