Folie à Deux’ Debuts Behind ‘Harry Potter’ Re-Release in China

“Joker: Folie à Deux” debuted over the weekend in its final major market, China, where the offbeat comic book sequel landed behind “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” on box office charts.

A re-release of the second “Harry Potter” movie earned $4.6 million over the weekend, while “Joker 2” brought in $5.9 million from 11,204 screens across a five-day frame. The original 2019 “Joker,” which grossed a staggering $743 million overseas, wasn’t released in China. Warner Bros. is the distributor of both “Joker” and the “Harry Potter” franchise and reported the order on box office charts, but the studio would not provide clarity on the comparative three-day number for “Joker 2.”

At the international box office, “Folie à Deux” added $14.7 million from 78 markets over the weekend, boosting its overseas tally to $135.5 million. With $56.4 million in North America, the film has grossed $192 million to date. It cost $200 million to produce and is poised to lose at least $150 million to $200 million in its theatrical run.

All eight films in the magical series about everyone’s favorite boy wizard are returning to Chinese movie theaters, starting with the original “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” on Oct. 11. The first “Potter” movie placed second on China’s box office charts with $6.6 million, behind local-language war drama “The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death,” and has generated $10 million to date. The re-release will continue with the remaining seven titles dropping on a weekly basis through November. The “Harry Potter” films were produced between 2001 and 2011, a period in which the film industry in China was rapidly evolving but not yet operating at today’s levels. So, this is the first time the franchise is playing on such a grand scale in the country.

Elsewhere at the international box office, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” remained No. 1 among Hollywood offerings with $23.1 million from 76 territories over the weekend. The well-reviewed family film has amassed $94.3 million overseas and $196 million globally to date. The studio has staggered the international release, so “The Wild Robot” touched down in 21 new territories over the weekend including the United Kingdom and Ireland ($4.2 million), Belgium ($700,000) and Ukraine ($500,000).