Now thatTerrifier 3has toppedJoker: Folie à Deuxon the domestic box office charts, Art has officially beaten the Joker to become Hollywood’s biggest clown. Following its premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 19,the horrifyingly violentTerrifier 3was finally released in U.S. theaters on October 11. In its opening weekend alone, the slasher threequel has become the highest-grossing entry in the cult horror franchise. And not only that; it took the number-one spot at the domestic box office, outgrossingJoker: Folie à Deuxin its second weekend andThe Wild Robotin its third.
BothTerrifier 3andJoker: Folie à Deuxare highly anticipated sequels about killer clowns. But where the former is breaking box office records in a good way, the latter is breaking records in a bad way.Terrifier 3has been a massive box office success, whileJoker 2is performing well below expectations for the long-awaited follow-up to a $1 billion blockbuster. So, how exactly did Art manage to beat the Joker at the box office? Why is an ultraviolent slasher that’s making audiences throw up grossing more than a big-budget comic book sequel?
How Much More Terrifier 3’s Opening Weekend Made Than Joker 2’s Second Weekend
Terrifier 3 Made $18.3 Million Domestically; Joker: Folie à Deux Made Just $7 Million
In this past weekend,Terrifier 3grossed over 2.5 times more thanJoker: Folie à Deux.Terrifier 3made an impressive $18.3 million at the domestic box office, whileJoker: Folie à Deuxonly brought in around $7 million. Even withJoker 2being in its second weekend, it’s still wild to seeTerrifier 3not only beat it, but do so by such a wide margin. In its opening weekend,Joker 2made $37.7 million, which was far below expectations. The DC sequel’s worldwide opening came in more than $100 million less than its sleeper-hit predecessor.
Terrifier 3topped the domestic box office this weekend, withThe Wild Robotin second place,Joker: Folie à Deuxin third place,Beetlejuice Beetlejuicein fourth place, andPiece by Piecein fifth place.
Terrifierstarted off as a microbudget slasher that earned a cult following due to its boundary-pushing portrayal of bloodshed, and it has blossomed into one of the most iconic horror franchises around.Jokerpromised a fresh origin story for one of the most beloved supervillains ever created, and garnered unexpected interest when the morality of its depiction of vigilante justice was questioned. The popularity of both theTerrifierandJokerfranchises was born out of controversy, butwhereTerrifierhas maintained its fervent fan base,Jokerlost the goodwill of its fan base almost overnight.
Why Terrifier 3’s Box Office Is So Good
Unlike Joker 2, Terrifier 3 Has Been Well-Received
One of the main reasons whyTerrifier 3is succeeding whereJoker 2is failing is that, unlikeJoker 2,Terrifier 3has been well-received.Terrifier 3has a good Rotten Tomatoes scorepromising a frightful time at the movies. Its “fresh” critics’ score of 76% isn’t quite as high asTerrifier 2’s 87%, but it is higher than the first film’s 60%. The threequel’s audience score is even better, at 89%. That, paired with a B CinemaScore, indicates a solid audience reception — especially for a movie so disgusting that it’s prompted walkouts and vomiting.
Terrifier 3 Cliffhanger Ending Explained
Damien Leone’s Terrifier franchise continues with the gruesome Terrifier 3, and while the universe expanded, it ended on a shocking cliffhanger.
TheTerrifierfranchise has gotten more and more hype with each movie.Terrifier 2had a lot riding on it after the first film’s word-of-mouth had turned it into a cult phenomenon, andTerrifier 3promised to push the envelope even further. All thereports of people throwing up in the theater or walking out because they couldn’t handle the gore are just free publicity for a movie like this. It made it feel like a challenge just to get through it, which created the impression that it needed to be seen with an audience, not streamed at home.
It might’ve made sense to release this Christmas-themed entry around Christmas, but the producers were right to take advantage of the spooky Halloween season when audiences are looking for a good fright.
On top of that,the threequel’s October release was very well-timed. It might’ve made sense to release this Christmas-themed entry around Christmas, but the producers were right to take advantage of the spooky Halloween season when audiences are looking for a good fright. There’s not much competition right now in the way of horror movies.The Substancehas been out for a while now, andSmile 2isn’t arriving in theaters until October 18. This presentedTerrifier 3with the perfect opportunity to corner the market. Horror fans looking for something new to watch had just one option.
Of course,Terrifier 3outgrossingJoker 2isn’t just aboutTerrifier 3’s success; it has just as much to do withJoker 2’s resounding failure. TheJokersequel had a record-breakingly bad 81% second weekend drop.That’s the worst second-week drop for any movie in the comic book genre, outdoing other notorious superhero bombs likeThe Marvels(78.1%) andShazam! Fury of the Gods(69%). And the opening weekend it’s dropping down from wasn’t all that impressive to begin with — it was over $100 million short of the first movie’s opening weekend performance.
10 Reasons Joker: Folie a Deux’s Box Office Is Such A Disaster
Joker: Folie a Deux has fallen short of box office expectations, with a variety of factors contributing to its poor commercial performance.
This can all be attributed tothe overwhelmingly negative reception toJoker: Folie à Deux. WhereasTerrifier 3received “fresh” scores from both critics and audiences,Joker 2 has abysmal “rotten” scores from both camps: 33% from critics and 32% from audiences. This negative reception would’ve been enough to put off casual viewers from checking it out, and bad word-of-mouth from diehard fans did away with the rest of the potential audience.Fans of the firstJokerfilmfelt personally attacked by the sequel’s bitter critique of the Joker’s followers and advised their fellow fans against seeing it.
What Terrifier 3’s Box Office Success Means
It’s Very Good News For Terrifier 4 & Beyond
Terrifier 3’s box office is very good news for the franchise.Terrifier 4has already been confirmed, andTerrifier 3’s chart-topping success surely means that Art will continue terrorizing audiences for many more movies after that.Terrifier 3is likely the catalyst that will turnTerrifierinto a new long-running slasher franchiselikeHalloween,Friday the 13th, andA Nightmare on Elm Street. The threequel’s success also shows the continued power of horror movies with lower budgets, which have been doing very well in recent years and will presumably continue at pace in the future.
What Joker: Folie à Deux’s Second-Weekend Box Office Means
It’s Not Good For The Already Tainted DC Brand
Joker: Folie à Deuxisn’t just underperforming; it’s a certifiable box office disaster. It’ll probably mean the end of Todd Phillips’Jokerfranchise, despite the potential setup for a third film with the revelation of a new Joker who would presumably become Batman’s arch-nemesis. DC, of course, has its own franchise reboot on the way under James Gunn’s direction, butJoker 2flopping is still not good for the overall brand, which has already been tainted with a series of flops. No one could’ve predicted thatTerrifier 3would outgrossJoker: Folie à Deux, but it’s been fascinating to see.
Terrifier 3
Cast
Terrifier 3 follows Sienna and her brother as they attempt to move past the traumatic events of Art the Clown’s Halloween massacre. As they embrace the Christmas season, Art reemerges, intent on turning their holiday into a nightmare, continuing his reign of terror.
Joker: Folie a Deux
Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Todd Phillips' critically acclaimed comic book thriller Joker. Reprising his Academy Award-winning performance as the failed comedian Arthur Fleck, Joaquin Phoenix revisits the iconic DC character alongside Lady Gaga, who makes her debut as Joker’s lover Harley Quinn in this standalone continuity of the DC Universe.
