Todd Phillips announces Joker Sequel
Joaquin Phoenix, who won an Oscar for playing the Joker, is currently reading a sequel script written by director Todd Phillips and Scott Silver. However, that isn't quite accurate; Phoenix read it some time ago, and it came down to an extremely lucrative contract for him to star in the genre-hopping sequel.
It's called Joker: Folie à deux, a medical word for a mental illness that affects two or more persons, hence the title of the script.
On top of its $1.07 billion worldwide box office, The first Joker (2019) garnered 11 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and a second Oscar for original music composer Hildur Gunadóttir.
A few details about the future sequel have been revealed so far:
Writers:
Todd Phillips shared a script cover page and a photo of Joaquin Phoenix reading it, which he co-wrote with Joker partner Scott Silver. For a comic book movie that had a relatively low budget, Joker brought in $1.07 billion worldwide. Overall, it received 11 Oscar nominations, with the film's score by Icelandic composer Hildur Gudnadottir winning the best score award.
The Name for the Sequel:
A medical term for a mental disorder that affects two or more people is referred to as Folie A Deux. Hence the name, "Joker: Folie A Deux," according to Phillips. The Killing Joke (2016) and Batman: The Animated Series (1992) both had an impact on Joker, despite the film taking certain liberties with the Batman mythos. Despite the presence of a teenage Bruce Wayne, the picture Joker was praised for being more like an early Martin Scorsese film than a comic book movie.
Inception of the idea:
The idea of asequel was explored with Warner Bros. film head Toby Emmerich shortly after the 2019 release of the picture by Silver and Phillips. While it was previously reported that Phillips would be developing a Joker sequel in 2019, the Hollywood Reporter claimed this week that the filmmaker may serve as an advisor on a number of Warner Bros.-produced DC projects. As Arthur Fleck, Phoenix was nominated for an Oscar for best actor for his role as a deranged man who becomes a folk villain towards the end.
Potential for Crossover with other DC properties:
In the wake of the pandemic, Matt Reeves' The Batman (2022)' was reopened and Robert Pattinson was diagnosed with COVID the day after the picture reopened, making it one of the pandemic era's first worldwide blockbusters. Batman and the Joker both live in their own continuity apart from previous DC adaptations, and Reeves has even cast Barry Keoghan as a different iteration of the Joker in a cameo appearance.
Instead of copying Marvel's strategy of having heroes and villains appear in each other's films, Warner Bro. allowed Todd Phillips and Matt Reeves to write entirely unique plots for their flicks. To be clear, there was never any thought of pitting Robert Pattinson as The Batman against Phoenix's Clown Prince of Crime.
The Plot:
As far as plot elements are concerned, Phillips' Instagram post didn't reveal any. However, the title has intriguing undertones. The term folie à deux, which translates to "shared madness," refers to a shared delusional state. Arthur's villainy was embraced by Gotham City in the first picture, but it might also hint that Phillips' sequel will feature his own depiction of Harley Quinn, Joker's most important (and, really, only) partner in life and crime and lunacy (in live-action).
De Luca and Abdy, who will temporarily administer the studio and DC for Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav, stand to gain financially from the start-up of a Joker sequel. De Luca and Abdy are in charge of DC while Zaslav searches for a new boss to oversee it across all mediums following Emmerich's resignation from the company. During the Emmerich period, Walter Hamada was in charge of DC's cinematic division, which included the production of The Batman spinoff HBO Max series centered on Colin Farrell's the Penguin, as well as The Suicide Squad spinoff Peacemaker (2022) , directed and written by James Gunn.
The success of Joker at the box office was far greater than anyone expected. Joker was the year's only truly breakout hit, despite a slew of commercial duds. Early in October, the film shattered a number of box office records, and it continued to do well throughout the month. Joker's success was bolstered by Oscar speculation for Joaquin Phoenix, the controversial word-of-mouth, and the fact that it's based on one of the most recognizable villains in pop culture.
Warner Bros. was initially concerned about the box office potential of The Joker, and as a result, they chose to split the production costs (and earnings) with co-financiers. It's comical to think about now. Joker's budget was deliberately reduced to discourage filmmaker Todd Phillips from making the movie. Because Phillips and Phoenix still had their mojo, the end product was one of the greatest box office runs in history. Fortunately for them."
Using the DC cinematic properties, Warner Bros. has already begun creating a new universe that connects its films and online series in a similar way to Marvel. The Batman has grossed $770.3 million so far this year, making it the second-highest earning film of the year, and a sequel was revealed at CinemaCon in April.
Black Adam (2022), starring Dwayne Johnson, will be released by Warner Bros. in October, followed by Shazam! Fury of the Gods Christmas time will bring us, The Flash (though Ezra Miller's strange conduct raises questions), and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.