Despite the buzz and anticipation, Todd Phillips' musical psychological crime thriller "Joker: Folie à Deux" failed to match the critical acclaim and box office success of its predecessor. However, many fans in China still appreciate the film as a unique creative vision from the director.

A still from "Joker: Folie à Deux." [Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures]

"Joker: Folie à Deux" opened in China on Oct. 16, grossing approximately 43 million yuan ($6 million) through Sunday, according to Chinese ticketing platform and box office tracker Maoyan. The film's lackluster performance contrasts sharply with the excitement surrounding the follow-up to Phillips' 2019 hit "Joker," which earned over $1 billion and garnered numerous accolades, including Oscars and the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion.

"Joker: Folie à Deux" currently holds a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has struggled at the global box office, earning only $192 million so far since its early October release. This falls short of its $200 million production budget and estimated $100 million spent on marketing and distribution, according to the entertainment business magazine Variety.

Despite the lukewarm reception in China, the film's score on the popular review site Douban has risen slightly from 5.9 to 6.1 out of 10, based on over 41,000 user reviews. Many praised the director's boldness, stunning cinematography and brilliant performances of Joaquin Phoenix, returning as the disturbed stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck, and Lady Gaga, joining as fellow Arkham inmate Harleen "Lee" Quinzel, who admires the symbol of the Joker. The characters are loosely adapted from DC Comics.

One user wrote, "I really love this film... If the previous film focused on the Joker, representing animalistic madness, this one returns to the fragile and repressed Arthur, representing humanity. The birth of the Joker deconstructed traditional hero narratives, and this film deconstructs him again after the anti-hero Joker is gradually mythologized, bringing him back to human form to explore his complex humanity."

Another one wrote, "I'm surprised in such a large-scale Hollywood sequel, the director has almost subverted the results of the previous film and the established character study."

A still from "Joker: Folie à Deux." [Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures]

In contrast to the madness and chaos of the first film, "Joker: Folie à Deux" presents a more subdued and introspective narrative. It follows Arthur Fleck, now institutionalized at Arkham, awaiting trial for his crimes as the Joker. Amid his struggle with dual identity, Arthur finds what he believes to be true love and discovers the music that has always been inside him.

"It's hard to explain what the movie is without getting into the specifics, but essentially, it's the story of identity," said director Todd Phillips. "It's the story of who Arthur Fleck is and who the Joker is, at least through his own eyes. And what does it mean to embrace your true self and who you are? Which is what he ultimately has to do at the end. I think this movie is infinitely more hopeful than the first film for Arthur."

Phillips said that in 2018 when they were first making "Joker," the filmmaker, cast and crew never imagined it would resonate so strongly with global audiences. "It was a whirlwind," he said, noting that the themes in the first film were rather timely. He acknowledged that movies tend to hold a mirror up to society, reflecting where people are at that moment in the culture. Regarding the sequel, he revealed, "We were thinking, 'What the world needs now is love.' That was the jumping-off point for writing the screenplay."

Phoenix said he and the director began discussing a new story for the character midway through shooting the first film, long before its release, believing there was more to explore with the character. "I loved the idea and the challenge of continuing the story but finding different tones to play with. In the first film, we discovered moments in the way that Arthur and Joker move in the world that felt musical, oddly graceful, in a way — some kind of rhythm that motivates his movements. There was a nostalgia to the music that he listened to, the music in his head, that we kept discovering more and more as we were shooting," he said.

For Gaga, Phillips took a very big swing with the concept and script of the "Joker" sequel, infusing it with audacity and complexity. "There's music, there's dance, it's a drama, it's also a courtroom drama, it's a comedy, it's happy, it's sad — it's got all of these elements. Some of the music is fantasy; some of it's in the scene. It breaks genre, and I think it was very bold, and that it's a testament to him as a director that he would rather be creative than just tell a traditional story of love," she noted.

A photo captures decorative installations at a cinema holding the Chinese premiere of "Joker: Folie à Deux" in Beijing, Oct. 14, 2024. [Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures]

While researching mental illness, Phillips and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Scott Silver discovered the term "folie à deux," meaning shared madness, which became the movie's title. "In the movie, you can take it many ways. You can say, 'Oh, well, obviously, it's a shared madness between the two of them (Arthur and Lee).' Or is it between Arthur and Joker, his own internal folie à deux? It really depends, to me, on the lens that you're watching the film through," Phillips said.

The director noted that audiences who loved the first "Joker" film should appreciate "Joker: Folie à Deux" for similar reasons and that the unexpected huge success of the first movie was largely due to the deep love the audience had for the character that Phoenix brought to life.

"So, we just thought if we leaned into that, and we really leaned into taking Arthur apart and breaking Arthur down by the end of it, that just felt right," he said.

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