'terrifier 3' Slashes 'joker' To Take No. 1 At The Box Office, Trump Film 'the Apprentice' Fizzles

The choices on the movie marquee this weekend included Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker, a film about Donald Trump , a "Saturday Night Live" origin story and even Pharrell Williams as a Lego . In the end, all were trounced by an ax-wielding clown.

"Terrifier 3," a gory, low-budget slasher from the small distributor Cineverse, topped the weekend box office with 18.3 million, according to estimates Sunday. The film, a sequel to 2022's "Terrifier 2" 15 million worldwide in ticket sales, brings back the murderous Art the Clown David Howard Thornton and lets him loose, under the guise of Santa, at a Christmas party.

That "Terrifier 3" could notably overperform expectations and leapfrog both major studios and awards hopefuls was only possible due to the disaster of "Joker Folie a Deux." After Todd Phillips' "Joker" sequel, starring Phoenix and Lady Gaga, got off to a much-diminished start last weekend and a "D" CinemaScore from audiences, the Warner Bros. release fell a staggering 81 in its second weekend, bringing in just 7.1 million.

For a superhero film, such a drop has little precedent. Disappointments like "The Marvels," "The Flash" and "Shazam Fury of the Gods" all managed better second weekends. Such a mass rejection by audiences and critics is particularly unusually for a follow-up to a massive hit like 2019's "Joker." That film, also from Phillips and Phoenix, grossed more than 1 billion worldwide against a 60 million budget.

The sequel was pricier, costing about 200 million to make. That means "Joker Folie a Deux" is headed for certain box-office disaster. Globally, it's collected 165.3 million in ticket sales.