Joker: Folie à Deux” is off to a shaky performance at the domestic box office after earning $20 million from 4,102 locations across Friday and preview screenings. Rivals project that Warner Bros.’ sequel to the 2019 DC Comic book film “Joker” will open south of $50 million.

Just three weeks ago, tracking services pegged the movie for a $70 million debut, which would still have been down a fair amount from "Joker's" record-breaking $96.2 million launch in Oct. 2019. Reviews were mixed out of the Venice Film Festival, where it premiered in competition like the first movie and even got a 12-minute standing ovation.

Joker: Folie à Deux” is the No. 1 movie at the box office, but it might not be destined for a happy ending. In a turn of events that only Arthur Fleck would find funny, the follow-up to Todd Phillips’ 2019 origin story about the Batman villain opened in theaters nationwide this weekend to a muted $40 million,

"Joker: Folie à Deux” suffered an even worse box office debut than initially expected. The off-beat comic book sequel, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, brought in a tragic $37.8 million in its first weekend of release.

The highly anticipated musical sequel to the 2019 hit “Joker” from Warner Bros.’s movie studio delivered just $40 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend. That performance fell short of already modest industry projections that it would gross between $50 million and $60 million.

Folie à Deux, a sequel to the 2019 hit, took in $37.7 million in ticket sales in the US and Canada in its opening weekend, data tracker Comscore Inc. said Monday, well below the prior installment.The R-rated film’s haul compares with Boxoffice Pro estimates of $50 million to $60 million,

Joker: Folie à Deux,” a genre-bending sequel to the billion-dollar comic book smash, hit a sour note at the box office even as it opened to No. 1 with $40 million.

Related: 'Deadpool and Wolverine' makes history at the box office In other business headlines: Hollywood is licking its wounds after a high-profile flop. “Joker: Folie a Deux,” tanked in its box office debut.

Folie a Deux was even lower at $37.8M this weekend versus the $40M that the studio reported yesterday morning. Sunday came in at $6.2M, -45% off Saturday’s $11.3M. The movie cost $190M+ before P&A. Overseas was better as we told you yesterday with a $81.