Francis Ford Coppola recently joked about Joker: Folie à Deux struggling in a social media post encouraging and relating to Phillips since his latest film Megalopolis is also flopping at the box office. 

The second installment of Joker is underperforming despite the film’s high expectations. It received a very low Cinemascore of D.

Some argue that the hatred and dislike toward the movie is because it is a musical. However, Coppola disagrees with such remarks, stating that Joker: Folie à Deux was ahead of its time. “Ever since the wonderful The Hangover, he’s always been one step ahead of the audience, never doing what they expect. Congratulations to Joker: Folie à Deux,” Coppola stated on Instagram.

Coppola’s Megalopolis released in theaters last weekend to a D+ Cinemascore, only garnering $4 million at the box office. Coppola raised the money for the movie himself as no one wanted to work on it, raising $120 million for the budget.

Although Phillip’s 2019’s Joker received both critical acclaim and audience approval making over $1 billion at the global box office, the sequel came nowhere near this accomplishment. The sequel was highly anticipated with a higher budget of $200 million, whereas the original only had a budget of $55 million. Tracking for Joker: Folie à Deux showed an opening of $70 million. This changed once reviews began seeping in and the film opened to only $37.8 million. 

Coppola noted in his Instagram post that Folie à Deux cinematographer Lawrence Sher was influenced by Coppola’s musical One From the Heart, which became a cult classic after being generally despised by the public for some time. Folks may be unprepared for films like Joker: Folie à Deux or Megalopolis.