'Joker: Folie a Deux' is the latest box-office flop of the year. What else is disappointing here

Warner Bros Took a big swing with “Joker: Folie à Deux.” It turned out to be a big whiff.

After the billion-dollar success of “Joker” in 2019 on a budget of just $55 million, the studio greenlit a sequel, offering director Todd Phillips a substantially larger budget of $200 million. As of Wednesday, the film had grossed just $53.8 million domestically, according to ComScore. Its worldwide haul through Sunday stands at $166 million, with updates expected over the weekend.

Panned by critics and audiences, “Joker: Folly à Deux” is not expected to recoup its high production budget or an additional $100 million in estimated marketing and distribution costs by the end of its theatrical run.

And it's not the only blockbuster-budget film to disappoint at the box office this year.

Warner Bros. Other studios including, public, Lionsgate and even sonyThe franchise has dropped millions of dollars on features and star-studded ensembles — only to see ticket sales spotter.

Of course, this is not an uncommon phenomenon in the theater industry.

“A mix of hits and flops is a hallmark of every box office year,” said Paul Dargarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. led to the series.”

Additionally, as Hollywood grapples with a growing streaming market and a more fickle moviegoing public, these misfires could worry investors.

“Before the rise of streaming, evaluating a movie's financial performance was seemingly simpler than in recent years,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics for Fandango's film division.

Because of streaming, Hollywood has shortened the theatrical window, bringing movies to home markets much faster than before. This means that potential moviegoers, who may be on the go to catch a movie or watch it quickly, have less time to wait before watching it from their couch on a streaming service they've already subscribed to. And if the reviews of the movie are bad, the audience is less motivated to go to the cinema.

“In turn, this shift in dynamics and business model may lead to the question of what kind of box office-to-budget ratio constitutes a loss and what doesn't,” Robbins noted. “Some numbers are easy to look at and identify as a financial mistake without much justification to be sure. Others may be less obvious to grasp in an ever-evolving global market.”

For example, a direct-to-streaming movie with a $200 million budget can be considered a success for a studio, if it generates enough views. Meanwhile, a $200 million film that goes into theaters and underperforms is often considered a failure. This is especially true when considering that studios are also spending on marketing and promotion costs, typically equal to half of the production budget, and ticket revenue is shared with the movie.

As for companies Netflix, apple or the amazon With large cushions and stakeholders who are traditionally more comfortable with risk, big-budget films may not entice investors to go straight to streaming. But for more traditional media companies, which have traded on their success at the box office, shareholders still want to see a big theatrical return on investment.

Here's a look at some of the biggest box-office disappointments in 2024 so far, based on estimated production budgets by IMDb and box-office tallies from ComScore:

• Estimated Production Budget: $200 million
• Global Box Office: $166 million
• Release Date: October 4, 2024

Warner Bros.' “Joker: Folly à Deux” fell short of opening weekend expectations earlier this month, earning just $37.6 million domestically in its first few days in theaters after early box office forecasts called for about $70 million.

The film opens after Arthur Fleck is arrested in “Joker” as he awaits trial at Arkham State Hospital. Audiences failed to connect with the sequel, which featured Lady Gaga, who played a version of Harley Quinn and showcased her musical talents in several scenes.

“Joker: Folly à Deux” suffered the biggest second-week drop of any DC Studios film, a whopping 81% drop.

For comparison, its predecessor snapped up $96.2 million in its opening weekend and $248.4 million in its first three days worldwide.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” failed to entice its most ardent fans or inspire new moviegoers to visit cinemas. Critics have widely panned the flick, which currently holds a 33% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and a rare “D” on CinemaScore.

• Estimated Production Budget: $115 million
• Global Box Office: $32.9 million
• Release Date: August 9, 2024

Seeking to capitalize on the popularity of video game-based films, Lionsgate spent $115 million on an adaptation of director Eli Roth's “Borderlands.”

The film boasted an all-star cast of Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Jamie Lee Curtis and up-and-comer Ariana Greenblatt, but fell flat with audiences. Blanchett portrays a notorious bounty hunter who forms an unlikely alliance with a ragtag group of misfits on a quest to find the missing daughter of the most powerful man in the universe.

“Borderlands” generated a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 161 reviews and stalled with just $32.9 million in worldwide ticket sales.

• Estimated Production Budget: $200 million
• Global Box Office: $96.2 million
• Release Date: February 2, 2024

Universal's “Argyle” had a similarly stacked cast — Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, John Cena, Dua Lipa and Samuel L. Jackson among them — but failed to generate box-office interest.

The film centers on Howard, the reclusive author Ellie Conway, whose best-selling espionage novels began to mirror the covert operations of a real-life spy agency.

After spending nearly $200 million in production and an estimated $100 million in marketing efforts, the film grossed just $96.2 million worldwide.

Most of the film's problems stemmed from poor reviews — it received a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes — for what some called a convoluted yet predictable plot.

• Estimated Production Budget: $125 million
• Global Box Office: $180.9 million
• Release Date: May 3, 2024

Universal's “The Fall Guy” was actually very well received by critics, earning an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, even the dynamic pairing of Ryan Gosling, “Barbie” and Emily Blunt, one of the stars of “Oppenheimer”, was not enough to pull the audience into the movie.

The film, a love letter to stunt performers based on an '80s television show of the same name, centers on Gosling's Colt Sievers, a battle-scarred stuntman who returns to the film industry after becoming the star of a directed movie. Sievers' former love interest Jody Moreno (Blunt) is missing.

“The Fall Guy” grossed just $180.9 million worldwide. Its production budget was $125 million, not including marketing and distribution costs. The lack of major franchise tie-ins and niche stories seems to have narrowed the audience.

• Estimated Production Budget: $80 million
• Global Box Office: $100 million
• Release Date: February 14, 2024

Sony's Spider-Man universe movies have been hit-or-miss at the box office over the years. Every Venom or Spider-Verse success has a “Morbius” or a “Madame Web”.

With a score of 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, “Madam Web” garnered the wrong kind of viral attention upon its release. Memes flood social media sites poking fun at the cast's wooden performances, gaping plot holes and poorly redubbed dialogue.

“Madam Webb” follows Cassandra Webb, a New York City paramedic with a demanding job. Web's vision warns him of a threat to the three young women, who will gain spider powers in the future.

The film cost around $80 million to make, grossing around $100 million in worldwide ticket sales. However, after sharing the marketing costs and receipts with the movie, the film did not make back its budget.

• Estimated Production Budget: $168 million
• Global Box Office: $172.4 million
• Release Date: May 24, 2024

Warner Bros.' “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” was a long-awaited prequel from the mind of George Miller. However, despite strong reviews – a 90% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes – the film failed to explode at the box office.

A prequel to 2015's “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the film explores Furiosa's early life as she is kidnapped by a tyrannical warlord and spends years trying to return home.

The film's production benefited from massive government subsidies for filming in Australia, which eased the financial blow, but “Furiosa” grossed just $172.4 million during its worldwide run. Its production budget was estimated at around $168 million, excluding marketing costs.

For comparison, “Mad Max: Fury Road” took in $368 million during its worldwide run in 2015.

• Estimated Production Budget: $120 million
• Global Box Office: $9.2 million
• Release Date: September 27, 2024

“Megalopolis” was a passion project for writer-director Francis Ford Coppola, who had been working on the film concept since the late '70s. He self-financed the film, spending $120 million on production.

The film is set in an alternate version of 21st century New York City called New Rome. It follows an architect named Cesare Catiline (Adam Driver) as he attempts to revitalize the city by building a futuristic utopia called Megalopolis while facing weak leadership to stop his plans.

Rotten Tomatoes critics called the piece an “overstuffed opus”, with a large cast of heavyweights in addition to Driver — among them Dustin Hoffman, Giancarlo Esposito, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Voight — but attracted only Coppola's biggest fans. “Megalopolis” grossed just $9.2 million worldwide.

The film was distributed by Lionsgate. It is unclear whether marketing and distribution costs were shared between Coppola and Lionsgate or whether the studio took the financial burden.

• Estimated Production Budget: $100 million
• Global Box Office: $38.2 million
• Release Date: June 28, 2024

Another of Kevin Costner's passion projects, “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” struggled at the box office. The feature grossed just over $38.2 million at the worldwide box office during its theatrical run. Its poor performance led Costner and Warner Bros. to postpone the release of a planned sequel, “Chapter 2,” which was set to run about six weeks after the first hit theaters.

“Chapter 1” follows various narratives of pioneers exploring the American West and new territories, including a rugged cowboy played by Costner, who finds himself on the run with a prostitute and a young boy after killing a fellow gunman.

Costner produced, wrote, directed and starred in both films, spending an estimated $100 million on the two projects. Two more chapters of the story are in development with an undisclosed budget.

Western films are a tough sell at the modern box office. The classic genre is beloved by film buffs, but not a huge draw for moviegoers. According to ComScore, the highest-grossing Western at the box office is Quentin Tarantino's 2012 film “Django Unchained,” which grossed nearly $450 million worldwide. Since Costner's “Dances with Wolves” in 1990, it is the second-highest, not adjusted for inflation, with worldwide ticket sales of $424.2 million.

While 2013's “The Lone Ranger” grossed $260 million worldwide, no other Western film has grossed more than $250 million at the worldwide box office.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes.