Joker: Folie à Studio

It is such a bummer to see the hate literally destroy my most anticipated movie this year so viciously. What a whiplash we experienced watching Joker: Folie à Deux crumble under the aggressive attack of the fandom that built the cult around the first one. Although some, like me, didn’t realize at first where all the hate came from, now, after the second weekend drop, we can all agree that it was a bad business decision. Losing the studio around 200 million and further hurting the DC brand was not part of the equation when the film was greenlit, I assume. And Gaga was such a cool choice for the role, but I understand how the singing could be off-putting for the crowd that made the first movie possible in the first place.

Listening to the reviews that came out before I watched the movie lowered my expectations so much that I ended up loving the film. Unfortunately, this movie didn’t represent the audience that made the first one such a hit, which was an incredibly risky and, as it turned out, stupid decision. Some fans of the first Joker never even went to see the "abomination" Todd Phillips created. Even though the trailers were hot, once the musical aspect began to surface, it became a deterrent. It was such an out-of-the-box idea, but one that failed to connect with the mass audience it was supposed to ignite in order to replicate the previous success. Letting Todd Phillips walk away with his millions while completely failing to understand his fans and missing everything they were hoping for is a huge misstep.

Where was the Joker throughout the whole movie? The idea of killing the archetype of the Joker and introducing the notion that anyone could be Joker if they reach a certain level of insanity may have been more fluid without the musical gems, which were way too many. And I did like the movie, especially the musical parts. Gaga delivered vocally, and Phoenix brought emotion with his trembling voice, but I understood that they were essentially two different films. Where was Harley Quinn? Leaving her scene on the cutting room floor, and later trying to put the blame on Gaga, when we all remember Phillips saying he cast her "because she is magic," will be his downfall. He failed not only the first movie’s audience but also the fans Gaga brought to the film. This safety net of Gaga’s audience brought money to the table, but with the success of the previous film, the stretched budget, and the missed potential of the sequel, it wasn’t enough.

The trial of the century? 

Gaga will survive—maybe she’ll take a break from movies to cool down the general public—but to be fair, she was not the problem with the movie. Everything she was asked to do, she did right. The only two entities here to blame should be the executives who allowed this movie to be made, giving full control to Todd Phillips, and Phillips himself, zig-zagging and unable to please anyone. It’s not fun seeing your favorite star take hits that could have been avoided if someone had listened to the fandom from the beginning. And this toxic fandom is out for blood. The negative avalanche was so powerful that nothing stood a chance in its path. I see people who haven’t even seen the movie spilling fire under every post about it, declaring what a waste of time and money it is. Those whose expectations simply weren’t met were so furious that they made Joker: Folie à Deux worse than Madame Web and Morbius. In what universe are these two movies better than the second Joker? This is the kind of revenge that will echo forever.

Let's give the people what they want?

The power of the fandom is real, and they destroyed this movie not only on social media but also in the cinema score, Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, or any other rating site, where scores are lower than the two Sony Marvel movies I mentioned earlier. The box office, which matters most, and the losses from it will be a cautionary tale for many years to come. Just do what Ryan Reynolds and James Cameron did: listen to the pulse of the fandom. You can take risks and play with the property, but the majority of the audience for these movies are men with certain expectations that need to be met if you want your project to be successful.

Now, I’m only aware of Gaga’s new album that is coming to reclaim her pop roots. You are only as good as your last project, right? Show business. Her powerful jazz album, released as a companion to this movie, will forever be scarred because of this association, no matter how good her music and voice sound on that record. As a fan of hers from the very beginning, I loved her performance here—I just wish her story had been bigger and deeper.

Iliya Badev