In recent months, several big market movies have been heavily hyped up to be big hits at the box office, but when released to theaters, they did not see the turnout they hoped for.
People typically stop going to the theaters once the school year starts, but this dry spell has lasted longer than expected.
Are these films not as good as they were supposed to be, not properly marketed, or are fewer people going to the movie theaters now, with the number of streaming services available?
Before getting into the movies that have not been performing well, what determines whether a movie does well or not? In the world of cinema, production companies want to make 2.5x what they put into the movie. If they make less than that, it is considered a flop, and if they make more, then it is a success.
Joker: Folie à Deux was released on October 4th and, based on the 2.5 rule, was predicted to bring in $450 million. After three weeks in theaters, Joker has only brought in $204.7 million (as of 11/7) and has barely made a profit with the $200 million budget invested in making the film.
Joker has a mere 32% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the year’s most lackluster blockbuster movies. Top critic John Wilmes said, “Joker: Folie à Deux offers nothing to the franchise.”
Many critics and fans think the plot is off-track and inconsistent.
The original Joker film released in 2019 earned 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, so the sequel’s score is far less than what they wanted.
Another flop in the theaters recently has been Venom: The Last Dance. The film has brought in a good profit, making 323 million so far at the box office, with a budget of only 120 million; however, the problem isn’t coming in from the sales but from what the critics are saying about it.
Coming in with a measly 41% on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie seems to lack something that the critics are looking for.
Critic Sheraz Farooqi wrote, “Undoubtedly the weakest of the trilogy. Tom Hardy does his best with a poor script, but ultimately, the film couldn’t decide between being a finale or a trailer for future franchises. It’s a fun popcorn movie, but after a full trilogy, audiences want more.”
In the third installment of the Venom franchise, the first two have been major hits among the Marvel fanbase, so the bar was set just as high, if not higher, for the third movie. According to critics and fans alike, Venom: The Last Dance did not meet that bar, and the ratings reflect that.
With all the movies that come out every week and how busy people’s schedules are, films need to have good marketing with trailers and need to be quality if they want people to tell their friends about them. Both of these movies seemed to fail at that, and that could be attributed to why they are not performing to the standard that they wish.
