I can't believe that the final box office numbers for Joker: Folie à Deux are so much lower than 2019's original Joker movie. Todd Phillips' 2024 follow-up to his smash-hit DC Elseworlds movie, set outside the main DC Universe, marked the return of Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a failed stand-up comic and clown who finds himself imprisoned after embarking on a killing spree as Joker. I thought 2019's Joker was revolutionary, delivering a beautiful and gripping take on the iconic DC Comics supervillain, but I found it a shame the sequel wasn't so well received.

I saw Joker: Folie à Deux as soon as it was released in October 2024. As a huge Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga fan, I loved the highly-anticipated sequel, and thought its subversive and polarizing narrative and arthouse style was exactly what a Joker sequel demanded. Despite my opinion, however, Folie à Deux was met with heavy criticism,...