*Courtesy of Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP, and Monica Schipper/Getty Images.*

Nothing better than filmmakers supporting filmmakers —particularly when your films have been negatively received.

Francis Ford Coppola, director of self-financed $120 million passion project ‘Megalopolis,’ showed his support for ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ director Todd Phillips on a social media post on Saturday, as the sequel reception to the 11-time Oscar nominated original has been poorly received by audiences and critics.

This comes as ‘Megalopolis’ continues to tank at the global box office, bringing in only $4 million on its debut. See the ‘Megalopolis’ trailer here.

The Joker sequel released this weekend behind box office and critical expectations, becoming the first Hollywood comic book pic in history to receive a D on Cinemascore.

The film is tracking for a significant box office drop next weekend, as audiences are seeing the horrid reactions to the film on social media. On top of that, the musical follow-up is still jarring for many people. It would have been worth while if the film’s musical sequences built up to… anything.

But enough about us — Coppola says Phillips’ Joker sequel was ahead of moviegoers who may not be ready for such a film.

“Ever since the wonderful The Hangover, he’s always been one step ahead of the audience never doing what they expect. Congratulations to Joker: Folie à Deux,” Coppola wrote on Instagram (see below).

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A post shared by Francis Ford Coppola (@francisfordcoppola)

‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ was originally projected to reach $70 million on opening weekend — still trailing behind the first film’s massive $96 million opening. After the film’s premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, negative reviews poured out from attendees. Several fan screenings later, the sequel had worse reviews from fans, and now this weekend is tracking for a much lower $60 million threshold.

The film holds at 33% at Rotten Tomatoes from 257 critics and 31% from 2500+ verified audience members.