Lady Gaga Reportedly Paid $12 Million to Star in Box Office Bomb ‘Folie à Deux’

Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

Lady Gaga reportedly made $12 million to portray Harleen Quinzel in the box office flop, ‘Joker: Folie À Deux.’ Reactions to the musical format have been less than stellar, with many critics saying Gaga was underutilized in her role as Harley Quinn.

The decision to make the sequel to 2019’s Joker a musical is a strange one that seemingly has not landed with viewing audiences. Variety reports that the Joker sequel has earned $51.5 million domestically and $165 million globally since release two weeks ago. Those numbers handily under perform the first movie, which raked in $96.2 million domestically and $248.4 million globally after just three days. Variety reports that ticket sales are projected to stall around $65 million domestically and $210-215 million globally when the film concludes its theater run.

It’s unclear if Warner Bros. will make its money back on the investment, as the sequel reportedly cost $200 million to produce and $100 million to market and distribute. Sources at Warner Bros. say the film needs to earn $375 million to break even—but with a 33% rotten rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s unclear who is left to see one of the biggest box office flops this year. The film will hit streaming platforms on October 29 which could generate more interest from home viewers uninterested in attending a theater showing for a critically-panned movie.

So why the big price tag on producing the sequel? Reports suggest the high price is from fees to director Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix, and Lady Gaga. Both Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix pocketed $20 million to return to their respective roles, while Lady Gaga pocketed a cool $12 million to portray Arkham inmate Harleen ‘Lee’ Quinzel.

Musicals have traditionally performed poorly at the box office for a variety of reasons. Casual movie-goers are more interested in seeing action and thriller movies, while Hollywood itself tends to hide the fact that a movie may be a musical in its marketing and promotional materials.