Joker: Folie à Deux is continuing its downward trajectory after flopping in its opening weekend, with historically low box office figures in its second week.

The sequel to the 2019 film Joker, which was both a hit with critics and fans, Joker: Folie à Deux grossed $38m at the US box office in its opening weekend, far beneath previous predictions in the $50-70m range.

But its second weekend was even worse, earning just $7m in the US across 4,102 theatres. The 81% drop is the steepest decline in history for a comic book movie, and among the steepest domestic declines for any movie.

An 81% drop places Joker: Folie à Deux in the top 20 biggest second weekend drops ever, according to charts by Box Office Mojo, which measures box office data gathered since 1982.

The record decline for a comic book movie was previously held by The Marvels, which bombed at the box office last year and suffered a 78% drop in its second weekend after being released in 4,030 cinemas.

Globally, Joker: Folie à Deux has grossed $165m to date, far from making back its $200m budget.

By comparison, Joker was made with a third of the budget of its sequel and opened to $96.2m in the US, making $248.4m globally in just one weekend. In total, it grossed more than $1bn globally, becoming the first R-rated film to do so, and remained the highest-grossing R-rated film until this year, when it was surpassed by another comic book film, Deadpool & Wolverine.

Joker was also a hit with critics, and won two Academy awards from 11 nominations, including best actor for Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role.

Phoenix reprises his role in the follow-up, while Lady Gaga joins the cast as love interest Lee Quinzel, based on the character Harley Quinn.

The sequel, which is a musical, has largely been dismissed by critics as “boring” and “startlingly dull”.

Both the Guardian and the Observer’s three-star reviews praised Lady Gaga’s performance, but deemed the film “laborious” and “indulgent”.