Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Hey Second. We might have finally found that one thing we can both agree on, buddy.

I knew it would happen one day or another.



--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

---

Quote:

---

They serve as a reminder to every writer in town to stand by your ideas, because you can never predict what will be a hit — “not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work” — and every time you compromise your vision because someone pretends to know better, you’re sacrificing the chance to prove them wrong.

---

Quote:

---

Why did Phoenix leave?

Allegedly, he got “cold feet.” We’d note that it would also require a cold heart to leave fully built sets in Guadalajara, and a crew that is ready to work. Danny Ramirez of Top Gun: Maverick was reportedly set to play his love interest. There has been no comment from Phoenix’s camp yet confirming why he left. There’s reportedly speculation among the crew that the exit has to do with the planned NC-17 gay scenes in the film, but Phoenix is the one who pitched the “love story and with a strong sexual component,” as Haynes previously told Variety. “Joaquin was pushing it further into more dangerous territory, sexually,” Haynes said at the time. What a tease. Lemme Go Berate This Quitter+.

...

Why not just recast him?

A reasonable question. Sources claimed to Variety that Phoenix’s role as a corrupt cop in the 1930s cannot be recast, meaning the crew is now unemployed and losses could go up to seven figures. The assumed issue is that multiple international distributors have already purchased rights to the project with the expectation that it will star Phoenix. With Phoenix out, the contracts for those sales may no longer apply, and that funding is now withdrawn.

How have the cast and crew responded?

Prolific indie-film producer Christine Vachon, Haynes’s long-time partner at Killer Films, confirmed on Facebook on August 9 that a “version” of Phoenix’s departure did happen, and she asked people not to blame the straight-casting choice for the outcome. “And PLEASE – if you are tempted to finger wag or admonish us that ‘that’s what you get for casting a straight actor’ –DON’T,” she explained. “This was HIS project that he brought to US– and Killer’s record on working with LGBTQ actors/crew/directors speaks for itself. (and for those of you who HAVE– know that you are making a terrible situation even worse).”

Others within the industry also seem hostile toward Phoenix over the incident. “There’s been a huge amount of outrage,” one anonymous studio exec told The Hollywood Reporter. THR also reported that he nearly backed out of Ridley Scott’s 2023 film Napoleon, saying he would leave unless Paul Thomas Anderson did rewrites. Once Anderson was brought in, Phoenix acquiesced.

Okay, so … what’s happening next?

Phoenix has the Joker sequel coming out later in 2024, so it’s unlikely that his behavior will put him on any blacklists. While it’s unlikely that an Oscar-winning star of his caliber is going to be stopped from working, Phoenix could definitely face legal consequences. “Back in the 1990s, Kim Basinger got sued for verbally agreeing to do Boxing Helena and then bailing on the project (which wound up shooting with Sherilyn Fenn and flopped mightily),” Ebiri adds. “She lost the case and it nearly destroyed her career. I would not be surprised if Phoenix wound up getting seriously sued for this.”

---

Quote:

---

Who is the audience for this? Who was this made for?

NOBODY who liked the first one is going to see this. NOBODY from the pink-haired, potbelly, cat-lady Twitter brigade is going to watch this movie. And that's made even worse by the fact that the (allegedly) straight Phoenix just dropped out of a movie where he was going to have some pretty graphic gay sex scenes last minute, basically destroying the chances that the movie ever gets made, so the entire LGBTQIAC3P0+ community has their pitchforks out for him right now. And not just him... Everybody involved in the process of getting that movie made because they chose not to cast an actual gay man for the roll and then he dropped out and ruined the chances that movie ever gets made by anyone. (See Post Below This)

The only audience Joker 2 is going to have is the dwindling 30-40 year old Lady Gaga cultist weirdos, and according to what I read on the Gaga fansite the other day none of them are looking forward to this movie at all and it appears that they're only buying a ticket and going to see it to support her because they're obligated to their aging cult leader.

Personally, I hope this is the end of Todd Phillips' career.

I can tell you for sure that this is the first and last $200 Million budget movie he's ever going to be directing.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:
The first “Joker” was basically a remake of director Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” but it marked its own original territory as a comment on urban blight, harsh capitalism and vigilantism. It was, in fact, a deconstruction of the comic book movie, with gritty, realistic violence instead of the cartoonish action usually seen in DC and Marvel films. Arthur’s murder spree, wherein he becomes the Joker, makes him both villain to the mainstream and cult hero to the oppressed. He becomes a breaker of systems.

---

This is so condescending when they write things like this. It's the same rhetoric that the "mainstream" media has been using for everything from geek culture entertainment to serious political discussion. They ARE the "mainstream", so their opinion is the right opinion. This is a subtle Us vs. Them statement, and they know that people who believe everything that they say are going to (and did) believe that anybody who thought Joker was a great movie automatically loved Joker/Arthur and wanted to emulate him.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

I'll come right out and say it again. Joker/Arthur was an evil piece of shit and nobody should want to emulate his behavior. It's sad that people with serious mental health issues in America are NOT getting the help they need, especially over the last 30 years or so, but that does not justify any of his behavior in that movie. And all of the fatherless, unemployed behavior of the Left since the summer of 2020 carried out by people with mental issues in public should not be tolerated and should be severely punished as well.

THIS is exactly why Todd Phillips set fire to his career. They made him believe that their perception of the audience who viewed Joker favorably was true, while also entirely disregarding the fact that even the Critics who are mostly Alt-Left also gave it stellar reviews and it won awards all across the world.

So, because of this, he took the $200 Million that was given to him for a sequel and set fire to his own career by making something that pleases no one.

I would suggest that somebody check up on Todd and see how his mental health is doing right now.




In any event...

Don't you love it when something comes out that is so unbelievably bad that everybody across the entire spectrum can come together and join hands and hate on it.




I can't even remember the last time something like this happened.





--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

In any event...

Don't you love it when something comes out that is so unbelievably bad that everybody across the entire spectrum can come together and join hands and hate on it.




I can't even remember the last time something like this happened.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:
Are you aware of Todd Phillips' complete oeuvre? It is low-brow:

2009 The Hangover
2010 Due Date
2011 The Hangover Part II
2013 The Hangover Part III
2016 War Dogs
2019 Joker
2024 Joker: Folie a Deux

---

Quote:

---

Korea - $1.75M
France - $1.3M
Italy - $1M
India - $0.75M

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:
Too Long?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:
Flop...or Not?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:
As bad as it is, Joker is still #1 in ticket sales (USA) for the weekend.

---

---

Quote:

---

After Megalopolis’ creative swing and miss last weekend, Joker: Folie à Deux continues the trend this weekend, with filmgoers not finding the musical anti-hero movie to their liking. Warner Bros. is projecting the film will make $40 million by close of business today, well less than half of what the studio would have hoped for when they greenlit the project.

...

There’s virtually no good news to be found in Joker’s numbers this weekend. The model thought it should hit $50 million based on its preview numbers and baseline strength, but it’s falling well short of that goal. Its D CinemaScore tells you pretty much all your need to know (Megalopolis managed a D+ last weekend). A short run in theaters seems a certainty at this point, with $100 million domestically looking like a challenge.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:
while Joker 2 is $190–200 million.

one of those times a sequel should never have been made.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Early estimates for US opening weekend on Joker were close to $100 Million. They were then revised down to $70 Million. A few days before release that was dropped to around $50 to $55 million, and now the studio projections are only $40 Million.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Bruce says it's probably going to make only $50 Million this weekend though

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:

Lower than expected 37 not 40

---

LOL... Holy crap. Sony highballed the hell out of that opening weekend projection trying to save a little face in the online weekend articles.

I'm seeing $37.8 Million on The-Numbers right now.

It's much lower than expected. Last estimates coming in expected around $50 Million. The projections were already $10 Million behind the heavily reduced expectations and it ended up over $2 Million lower than those.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Early estimates for US opening weekend on Joker were close to $100 Million. They were then revised down to $70 Million. A few days before release that was dropped to around $50 to $55 million, and now the studio projections are only $40 Million.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Bruce says it's probably going to make only $50 Million this weekend though

---

‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Flops With Lower-Than-Projected $37 Million Box Office Debut
https://variety.com/2024/film/box-office/joker-folie-a-deux-flops-box-
office-worse-than-expected-opening-weekend-1236169811/

QUOTE

By comparison, the original “Joker” earned $39 million on Friday alone in 2019.
Initial tracking was closer to $70 million, but those projections shrank dramatically in recent weeks to $50 million to $60 million. Monday’s final tally is below Sunday’s estimate of $40 million, which was flop territory

Quote:

---

Some critics argue that Joker 2 isn’t a musical — but it has songs and singing and dancing, and that’s what pissed off a 9PM Century City AMC attendees on Saturday who were shouting at the screen. We also understand that the lower 40% of theaters for Joker 2 only generated 5% of the gross.

---

Quote:

---

The Marvels, which was Marvel Studios’ lowest opening ever last November at $46.1M fell through the floor with a -78% drop in weekend 2 with $10.1M and that was off a ‘B’ CinemaScore.

---

Quote:

---

, “That s–t was garbage. Don’t waste your time. What the f–k? Two hours I am never going to get back. Don’t f–king waste your time.”

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

I wonder if any lessons were learned here.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

I wonder if any lessons were learned here.

--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:
Why No One Will Get Fired Over ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/joker-folie-a-deux
-who-blame-dc-1236025585/

When Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy took over as co-heads of Warner Bros.’ movie studio in early June 2021, one of the first decisions they made was to move forward with a sequel to Joker, the Oscar-winning, $1 billion hit that helped redefine the heights a comic book movie could reach.

Virtually all the key deals were already put in place by their predecessor, Toby Emmerich, with A-list director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix getting $20 million paydays.

One small outstanding matter was Lady Gaga’s perk package. Within weeks, the papers were signed — her pay was $12 million — and she officially joined Joker: Folie à Deux.

Abdy and De Luca could have said no to making the film, but they would have been the laughing stocks of Hollywood, considering the astonishing success of Joker and its record-shattering ride at the global box office, where it ranked as the top-grossing R-rated film of all time until Deadpool & Wolverine came along.

While it is not the lowest North American opening for a pic based on a DC character, Joker: Folie à Deux is major stumble. Yet numerous sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that there’s no studio head in Hollywood — save perhaps for Sony Pictures’ Tom Rothman — who would have turned down making a sequel to a film that was both a commercial and critical hit. To boot, Abdy and De Luca were under orders by Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav to fill a bare cupboard after the studio’s Project Popcorn disaster, which alienated talent by sending its entire 2021 slate day-and-date to streaming service Max. Zaslav also is keen to exploit the company’s IP more fully.

“It is a collective failure, but it was right to make this movie,” says one top veteran producer and financier, who points out that Phillips is a brilliant director who has made Warners billions between the first Joker and The Hangover movies.

There was no test screening, though insiders say this was a mutual decision between the filmmaker and Warners in order to preserve spoilers. That decision does stretch credulity, as the film does not have a particularly spoiler-heavy plot, and even spoilerific movies like Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Engdame had multiple test screenings.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:

“It is a collective failure, but it was right to make this movie,” says one top veteran producer and financier, who points out that Phillips is a brilliant director who has made Warners billions between the first Joker and The Hangover movies.

There was no test screening, though insiders say this was a mutual decision between the filmmaker and Warners in order to preserve spoilers. That decision does stretch credulity, as the film does not have a particularly spoiler-heavy plot, and even spoilerific movies like Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Engdame had multiple test screenings.

---

There's a lot of blame to go around for this. And everyone knew this one was going to fail except for the people who made it. I called this a loser well over a year ago when the rumors it starred Gaga and it would be a musical were confirmed.

Honestly... I thought this was going to be one of the scrapped movies after the strike because of the musical thing. But they did it anyway.

--------------------------------------------------

Trump will be fine.
He will also be your next President.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:
See the very first Batman in 1989. The Joker was on a murder rampage and the movie was very lucrative for Hollywood. Mass Murder sells movie tickets.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
It only took 6 days for Joker to fall into 2nd place behind the robot kid movie.

---