The last few weeks have not been good for the most expensive new Hollywood blockbusters.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis cost The Godfather director at least $120 million of his own money.
The poorly received arthouse mess starring Adam Driver opened in late September and has so far made just $8.5 million globally, after a 75 percent drop off during its second weekend in cinemas.
As a result, it’s likely the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s Megaflopolis will lose at least $100 million.
As if that weren’t bad enough, a new $200 million movie has also had a terrible opening weekend.
Back in 2019, Todd Phillips’ Joker was shot for around $70 million and made over $1 billion at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. After Joaquin Phoenix won the Best Actor Oscar for the title role, the pair returned for the sequel Joker Folie à Deux, alongside Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.
Following mostly poor reviews, the musical thriller (which had a much higher budget of at least $200 million) opened to $37.8 million domestically. This is lower than the openings of recent comic book movie box office bombs The Flash, The Marvels and Morbius.
Have earned $121 million worldwide in its opening weekend, Joker 2 is a far cry from its box office behemoth of a predecessor. As a result, the new DC movie will have to make at least $450 million to just break-even.
After a devastating start to the autumn for Hollywood blockbusters, perhaps Tom Hardy’s swansong Venom: Let There Be Carnage can repeat the box office success of its two predecessors at the end of the month.
Joker Folie à Deux and Megalopolis are out now in cinemas.
