Joker: Folie à Deux Is Now an HBO Max Hit 2 Years After Flopping

It's time to send in the clown. Years after becoming one of the most infamous superhero movie bombs of all time, Joker: Folie à Deux is back with a vengeance as it rises to the top of the streaming charts.

For some inexplicable reason, Joker: Folie à Deux is back on the streaming charts two years after its catastrophic bomb at the box office. The sequel to the Academy Award-winning Joker from 2019, Folie à Deux is currently No. 57 on HBO Max's most-streamed movies list. It is also performed surprisingly well on Netflix, where it is currently the No. 9 most-viewed film on the platform.

Joker: Folie à Deux's streaming resurgence may have something to do with awards season buzz, though not for the best reasons. The Razzie Awards and Academy Awards both fall this weekend, and while Folie à Deux had hoped for some attention from the latter, it was far more popular at the Razzies.

In contrast to the Oscars, the Razzie Awards focus on the year's worst films. Of the 2024 picks, Joker: Folie à Deux was the most-nominated at the 45th Golden Raspberry Awards, going on to win two undistinguished awards that night for Worst Screen Combo (for Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga) and Worst Remake, Sequel, or Spinoff. The only thing keeping it from an awards sweep was Madame Web, which won three of the categories that also included Folie à Deux.

Joker: Folie à Deux Is Still the Worst Comic Book Movie of All Time

There have been endless debates about the worst comic book movie of all time. Different viewers have their own scales by which to determine what makes a film of this category truly terrible. While some films, like Madame Web, are simply incompetent, others are far more disappointing. Joker: Folie à Deux deserves to be recognized as the worst comic book movie of all time because it had all the potential in the world to be great, only to crash and burn.

Coming off the acclaimed status of 2019's Joker, Folie à Deux could have easily been a tremendous sequel. Instead, Warner Bros. delivered a bizarre musical follow-up that completely undoes the events of the original film. In retrospect, Folie à Deux accomplishes the unfortunate task of completely ruining its predecessor's legacy as well.

It is for this reason that Joker: Folie à Deux has a devastating 31% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was also a colossal box office flop, earning $208 million against a massive budget of $200 million. The only silver lining to come out of Folie à Deux's devastating failure is that there almost certainly won't be a Joker 3.

Joker: Folie à Deux is available to stream on Netflix and HBO Max.