News culture It’s the flop of the year, even the CEO of Warner Bros. finds Joker 2 disappointing
With resounding successes and failures, Warner Bros. is going through difficult times as the company tries to find its balance. A trial and error that is not without difficulties…
We live in a society
When it was released in 2019, that was joker by Todd Phillips largely divided the opinion of the press, being both a beautifully directed film, supported by the excellent interpretation of Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role, and a work of morality and controversial themes. The feature film, in turn, was very well received by the audiencewhich will surpass the $1 billion mark by the end of its theatrical run. Regardless, the film’s extraordinary success will propel Warner Bros. forward. to validate a sequel by granting Todd Philipps a budget three to four times higher than previous performance for one of the most anticipated productions of 2024.
Unfortunately, Joker: Foil for two will hit the box office and even the idea of Lady Gaga in the role of Harley Quinn will not be enough to convince the audience. Painfully over $200 million at the box officethus the high estimate of his budget, Joker: Foil for two is a poor performance that will certainly see Warner lose money. After such disappointment, it was impossible for Warner CEO David Zaslav not to think again about the film’s failure.
When Warner gropes forward
During an “analyst call” reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Zaslav half-heartedly mentioned the problems facing the studio.
“Even in an industry full of successes and failures, we must recognize that our studios need to be more consistent. […]
Over the last two years we have made changes to improve our (project) validation process and our franchise management […]. We operate in an industry where change takes time to produce results. However, we believe these strategic changes will deliver better results in the coming years.”
True, Warner recently had to confront the consequences of a series of decisions made by David Zaslav himself. Among the most notable was the simultaneous release of the films theatrically and on VOD, a decision that not only resulted in low box office returns for the films in question, but also damaged the studio’s relationship with a certain number of filmmakers including Christopher Nolan, who has since moved to Paramount.
More recently, the same Zaslav had decided to bury a handful of projects, including Batgirlan animated film Scooby Doo and especially Coyote vs. Acmea live-action/animation hybrid work that is fully completed and was particularly well received by the few viewers who had the opportunity to attend test screenings. Where the bottom hurts particularly: The media The Wrap reported that the decision was made by Zaslav even though he had never seen the film.
