**"Joker: Folie à Deux" Disappoints at Box Office Despite No. 1 Opening**

Warner Bros.' much-anticipated sequel "Joker: Folie à Deux," the follow-up to the 2019 billion-dollar hit "Joker," opened at the top of the box office with $40 million. However, this figure was significantly below the initial projections, which had anticipated an opening weekend ranging from $50 million to $65 million. Pre-release tracking had once hoped for $70 million, making the actual earnings a considerable letdown.

Comparing it to its predecessor, the original "Joker," which set an October record with $96.2 million in its opening weekend, "Folie à Deux" falls short. Given the success of the first film, both critically and commercially, the tepid response to the sequel is particularly concerning for Warner Bros. The new film, which cost $200 million to produce, needs to generate $450 million to break even.

Industry analyst Jeff Bock from Exhibitor Relations commented, "When you greenlight a sequel, you hope it does the business that the previous one did." He noted that the studio likely overspent to bring the sequel to fruition. Unlike the first film, which was a standalone project co-financed with Bron Creative and Village Roadshow, "Folie à Deux" had only one co-financier, Domain, increasing Warner Bros.' financial exposure.

The original "Joker" was a phenomenon, earning $335 million domestically and $743 million internationally. It stood as the highest-grossing R-rated movie until "Deadpool & Wolverine" overtook it with $1.32 billion. However, "Folie à Deux" has struggled with both critics and audiences, receiving a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a "D" CinemaScore. Early reviews from the Venice Film Festival were lukewarm, contrasting sharply with the enthusiastic reception of the first film in 2019.

"Joker: Folie à Deux," directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck and Lady Gaga as Harleen Quinzel, diverges from the original's dark, gritty drama. This time, much of the film is presented as a fantasy musical. The narrative choice and musical elements may have contributed to the mixed reactions, with covers of songs like "Get Happy" and "For Once in My Life" potentially alienating mainstream audiences.

While "Joker: Folie à Deux" stumbled, DreamWorks Animation's "The Wild Robot" fared well, taking second place with $18.7 million and accumulating $63.9 million in two weeks. Warner Bros. did find some success with "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," which earned $10.3 million over the weekend, bringing its North American total to $265.5 million. Other holdover titles, including Paramount's "Transformers One" and Universal's "Speak No Evil," rounded out the top five.

In contrast, Lionsgate's "White Bird," a prequel and sequel to 2017's "Wonder," opened to a modest $1.5 million from 980 theaters. The film, focusing on characters only tangentially related to those in "Wonder," has not met expectations and joins a series of recent misfires for Lionsgate.

"Joker: Folie à Deux" faces a challenging road ahead, needing sustained interest and positive word-of-mouth to recover from its underwhelming debut. As the second weekend approaches, all eyes will be on whether it can stabilize its box office performance or continue to decline.