Joker: Folie a Deux box office collection Day 2: Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga starrer sees a big drop in collections on Thursday

The much-anticipated sequel 'Joker: Folie a Deux', starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, appears to be struggling at the box office after an initially moderate opening in India. The film, which aimed to replicate the success of Todd Phillips' 2019 blockbuster 'Joker', has experienced a drop in collections on its second day.
Opening on Wednesday, October 2, 'Joker: Folie a Deux' earned an estimated Rs 5.15 crore at the Indian box office, propelled by the national holiday of Gandhi Jayanti.Despite the figures falling short of initial expectations, the film managed to attract audiences and secured second place in the box office rankings, narrowly behind JR NTR's 'Devara', which grossed over Rs 6 crore for its Hindi dubbed version.
However, the film's momentum slowed on Thursday, with collections dropping to an estimated Rs 1.25 crore. This brings the film's total earnings in India to Rs 6.40 crore.
The film saw an overall 8.02% occupancy in its English-language shows, with the highest numbers recorded during its night screenings, which had an occupancy rate of 12.33%.With the weekend still ahead, there are hopes that 'Joker: Folie a Deux' will recover and see an uptick in box office numbers over the next few days.
On the international front, the film's performance remains under scrutiny. According to projections by Box Office Theory, 'Joker 2' is expected to earn between $44 million and $57 million during its domestic debut in 4,000 U.S. theatres this weekend. Initial forecasts predicted a potential $70 million opening, but recent estimates owing to bad reviews, have revised that number down to between $50 million and $60 million. This would be roughly half of the $96 million that the original 'Joker' achieved during its record-breaking October opening in 2019.

A sub-$60 million opening weekend would put 'Joker 2' on par with the first film's second-weekend earnings of $55.8 million, which ranks as the eighth-best October weekend of all time. If the projections hold, 'Joker: Folie a Deux' could find itself in a similar position to other recent DC and Marvel releases, such as 'The Flash', which opened to $55 million and finished with $266 million globally, and 'The Marvels', which posted a disappointing $199 million worldwide after its franchise-low $46 million opening weekend.