DC’s superhero movies have been struggling for some time, and ahead of the official DC Universe
re-release, films like Joker: Folie a Deux
appear to be adding to the pile of commercial failures, while other, safer bets are ignored. Although the DCEU was out of control almost from the moment it began, some big successes came out of the struggling franchise. The first Aquaman surpassed the billion dollar mark, becoming the instant leader of the group, and Wonder Woman followed closely with a box office gross of over $800 million (via The Numbers).
When looking back on the franchise’s mistakes, stars like Connie Nielsen, the woman who played Queen Hippolyta, commented on the unusual choices made by studios to simply discard financially viable products, such as a potential Wonder Woman 3in favor of starting from scratch and potentially draining even more funds in failed attempts. In light of Joker 2 spectacular fall from graceHaving gone from a billion-dollar hit like the original 2019 film, to a sequel that’s struggling to reach $200,000, it’s worth considering why Warner Bros.
Not Making Wonder Woman 3 Feel Different After Joker: Folie à Deux Reception
Killing all future DCEU projects and plans seems more reckless
Taking a closer look at the numbers, it’s clear that Warner Bros. and DC Studios had a lot to consider when it came to the reboot and which films should be impacted. Joker 2 It was expected to be a huge success considering the success of the previous entries, but when looking at any of the other DCEU projects and their sequels, many of them took a huge fall. Aquaman went from a billion-dollar first entry to a sequel that made less than half that amount despite an increase in production budget. However, when Aquaman had plans for a sequel, Clown was initially released as a solo film.
“I mean, frankly, I don’t understand that. [Wonder Woman] it grossed $800 million in theaters alone and has a huge, passionate fan base. These are spectacular films and I simply can’t understand any reason not to invest in them. If I were a businessman, I would say this is money on the table. It’s right there. Furthermore, whenever we did this, [it was] with budgets much smaller than any other D.C. budget.”
– Connie Nielsen
Applying the same type of analysis to Wonder Woman numbers, the first film took home over $800 million, and the sequel saw a significant drop in earnings, with a total of almost $170 million. However, Wonder Woman 1984 had the misfortune to come after the DC remodeland many fans felt that films lost attention when they had no stakes or future. Announcing from the beginning that many of these basic projects would be scrapped and actors written off meant that fans felt betrayed and saw no point in watching these dead-end projects. While Joker 2 existed on the outskirts of Elseworlds, it had even less reason to get a sequel.
Why Wonder Woman 3 Could Have Been a Safer Bet Than Joker 2
Wonder Woman 3 was always meant to happen
Ultimately, Joker The success meant that the studios pressured them to create a sequel, and due to its distance from the core DCEU, they saw it as a film that could still be made despite the DCU reboot. However, at the time of Joker released in 2019, director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix were clear about the fact that it was made as a standalone film. Then, When a sequel was announced, it wasn’t exactly expectedor even sought after by fans of the original. Add to that the significant deviation in the sequel’s approach and delivery, and this explains some of the reasons why it flopped.
|
Film |
Production Budget |
Box office |
|---|---|---|
|
Wonder Woman |
$150,000,000 |
US$817,691,766 |
|
Wonder Woman 1984 |
$200,000,000 |
US$166,360,232 |
|
Clown |
$55,000,000 |
US$1,063,574,394 |
|
Joker: Folie à Deux |
$190,000,000 |
US$167,883,843 |
About that, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot were excited and looking forward to their third outing. Announcing that not only would Wonder Woman 3 didn’t happen, but also that the entire universe was being undone in favor of new stories, new actors, and an entirely new universe, the DCEU lost any credibility, validity, or intrigue. If the studio had said it planned to continue the stories until a natural reboot could occur, like The Flash movie or some other event, Wonder Woman 3 could have been made, and probably would have exceeded the box office total of the shocking Clown sequence.
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