The last update we received about Season 18 of Murdoch Mysteries was in July when fans were thrilled by the news that a beloved actor, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, was joining the show.
Now, there’s even better news. According to TV Insider, the premiere date for Season 18 has finally been announced. Fans of the show now have something exciting to look forward to. The new season will air in the U.S. on the same day as it premieres in Canada on CBC.
The series, set in Toronto, originally aired on CityTV on January 20, 2008, and now airs on CBC. The last three seasons each had twenty-four episodes, with Season 17 ending on April 8, 2024.
Season 18 will have twenty-two episodes, and one of them will be the show’s 300th episode. All episodes will air on Ovation TV in the U.S., starting on Monday, October 7 at 8 PM ET.
Murdoch Mysteries is based on Maureen Jennings’ popular Detective Murdoch novels. It was called The Artful Detective in the U.S. until Season 12.
Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie, Yannick Bisson, Hélène Joy, Simon McNabb, and showrunner Peter Mitchell are the executive producers of the show. Jeremy Hood and Julie Lacey are producers. The series is produced by Shaftesbury, in association with CBC, ITV Studios, and UKTV.
New Character Joins Murdoch Mysteries Season 18
With Season 18 arriving in about a week, fans can expect some surprises. One exciting addition is Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who will play Inspector Albert Choi.
He will bring a fresh viewpoint to Station House #4. Lee’s involvement was announced in July, and this marks his return to CBC after his role in the comedy series Kim’s Convenience. He shared his excitement about joining the show:
“It’s a lot of fun stepping back in time, and I don’t think I’ve ever done a period piece like this before. It’s a show that remains innovative, that is family-friendly as well, and a little bit on the edge, and it’s one of those shows that, although it is a procedural, it does sort of keep you on your toes in terms of trying to figure out whodunnit, as it were, and yeah, that’s a recipe for success.”
Other important characters in Murdoch Mysteries include Detective William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson), Chief Constable Thomas Brackenreid (Thomas Craig), Constables George Crabtree (Jonny Harris) and Henry Higgins (Lachlan Murdoch), Detective Llewellyn Watts (Daniel Maslany), Chief Coroner Violet Hart (Shanice Banton), Margaret Brackenreid (Arwen Humphreys), and Effie Newsome-Crabtree (Clare McConnell), who is Canada’s first female Crown Attorney.
Season 18 of Murdoch Mysteries will premiere on Ovation TV on Monday, October 7 at 8 PM ET in the U.S. Stay tuned for future updates from Otakukart.
The negative reviews and reactions surrounding Joker: Folie à Deux have severely impacted its performance at the box office. The expensive sequel to 2019’s hit film had a weak opening weekend, earning under $40 million domestically in its first three days.
This figure is only about a third of what the original Joker made in its opening weekend in 2019, before the pandemic. It is also lower than the opening weekend numbers of some of the biggest recent box office failures. Directed by Todd Phillips, the film stars Joaquin Phoenix, who reprises his role as the Joker, and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.
With only $40 million in its first weekend, Joker: Folie à Deux earned slightly more than Morbius, but fell short of The Marvels and The Flash, three well-known comic book movie flops. For comparison, A Star Is Born, which also starred Lady Gaga, opened with $42 million and went on to make more than $400 million globally.
In contrast, the first Joker earned nearly $100 million in its debut weekend and eventually brought in $335 million domestically and over $1 billion worldwide. The original film also won several awards, including a Best Actor Oscar for Phoenix, and was made on a modest budget of around $70 million.
However, Joker: Folie à Deux had a much higher production cost of around $200 million. It, too, played in competition at the Venice Film Festival like its predecessor, but the reviews were far less favorable. Currently, the film holds a low 33% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Audience reception has been even harsher, with viewers giving it a 31% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a historically low D score on CinemaScore. This is the worst score ever for a comic book movie on CinemaScore, even worse than what controversial films like Megalopolis and Babylon received.
Warner Bros., which already saw a major loss this year with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, seems to be headed for another flop with Joker: Folie à Deux.
‘The Wild Robot’ and ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Continue to Succeed
After leading the box office in its opening weekend, DreamWorks’ The Wild Robot dropped to second place, bringing in just under $20 million in its second weekend. The highly praised animated movie is close to surpassing the $65 million mark domestically.
Made with a budget of $80 million, The Wild Robot holds an impressive 98% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and its strong performance has benefited from Joker: Folie à Deux’s failure to draw large audiences.
Meanwhile, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, another Warner Bros. hit, came in third place. It earned over $10 million in its fifth weekend, reaching a total of $265 million domestically.
Still from Joker Folie a Deux (Credit: Warner Bros.)
In fourth place was Paramount’s Transformers One, which is still struggling to break the $50 million mark after two weeks in theaters. Despite receiving excellent reviews, the movie hasn’t attracted large crowds. It made just over $5 million this weekend and will likely find more viewers when it hits digital platforms.
Rounding out the top five was Universal’s horror film Speak No Evil. Although the remake hasn’t been a massive hit, it has consistently drawn audiences. Speak No Evil has now made over $32 million domestically, more than double its production cost.
