Who's laughing now?
Todd Phillips's Joker currently sits at a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, dropping down from its original 87% score from just eight days ago. The past rating relied on 39 reviews, while the current rating uses 78.
The film premiered in late August at the Venice Film Festival to an eight-minute standing ovation, eventually going on to win the Golden Lion, the festival's highest award. While the film is still "certified fresh," the new reviews don't bode well for the Joaquin Phoenix-led production. However, the film is still projected to break box office records when it releases on Oct. 4.
Joker will serve as an independent origin story for Batman's arch nemesis, meaning it will not connect to the DC Extended Universe. Phillips recently confirmed that his film has no chance of connecting to Matt Reeves' The Batman, a film whose own DCEU connections remain unclear.
Directed by Todd Phillips, Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais and Shea Whigham. The film arrives in theaters Oct. 4.