Warner Bros. dropped earlier this week the first official poster for Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to the 2019 billion-dollar grosser (and two-time Oscar winner), which features the return of co-writer and director Todd Phillips and lead actor Joaquin Phoenix.
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But that is not it. The studio has also announced that the first trailer for the film will be coming out on April 9, which, not coincidentally, is also the day of WB’s panel at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. There is a lot of mystery surrounding the sequel, despite the relative openness that director Todd Phillips has shown on his Instagram, especially when compared to other movies of this size.
Variety reported earlier this year that it will act as a jukebox musical, featuring new versions of “very well-known songs” — the number goes up to 15. Think of Mamma Mia! or Moulin Rouge as examples of this genre. We’ve known since pretty much the beginning that there’d be a musical component to Folie à Deux, but specifics were lacking.
Harley Quinn is a part of the sequel, as it’s been well advertised by now (and seen in the poster). Lady Gaga is playing her, and there is speculation (though the studio hasn’t confirmed it yet) that she will be composing music for the movie. A recording of her voice as Harley Quinn was posted to social media along with the poster too, to hype up the new trailer. See DiscussingFilm’s post here:
The MPAA also has some Joker news to share, as it announced this week that the film has been given an R-rating for “some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity.” The first film was also R-rated, and in fact became the first movie with that classification to surpass the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.
Warner Bros. Has a Lot Riding On Joker: Folie à Deux
It’s a big year for Warner Bros. at the movies. Their two big tentpoles so far are annihilating the box office around the world, with Dune: Part Two having already surpassed $600M and showing no signs of slowing down. Godzilla x Kong debuted a few days ago to a much higher-than-expected $80M opening weekend in the US and has already smashed the $200M mark.
Both are sequels to 2021 movies that had debuted day and date but still managed to make a significant dent at the multiplexes. But the studio has two more to come, and they are no small feat. Furiosa, the prequel to the beloved Mad Max: Fury Road, which hails from the same behind-the-scenes team, is speeding into theaters at the end of May after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it’s expected to blow the whole place up. (The first screening of Fury Road in the South of France was quite historic.)
But despite its critical acclaim, and its many Oscar nominations, Fury Road didn’t exactly light up the box office, so Furiosa and its sizable budget may look like a potential risk to studio heads. Still, Fury Road might be one of those examples of movies that acquired a loyal fanbase thanks to word of mouth that spread after the movie left theaters.
Warners has two big movies in the second half of the year: Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which could go either way considering it is a sequel to a 40+-year-old movie (though it stars Internet favorite Jenna Ortega), and Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux.
That is less of a risk considering it is an established and much-beloved subsection of the IP, that must have been one of the biggest box office surprises for WB in the past few years. To give it some reward for that, film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy ok’d a budget more than three times as large as the first one, set around $200M. That includes sizable paydays for Todd Phillips (hasn’t been disclosed but probably won’t be below $15M), Joaquin Phoenix ($20M), and Lady Gaga ($10M).
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The pay increases are in part because the sequel wasn’t originally accounted for in the contracts that WB signed with Phoenix and Phillips for the first movie, as that was meant to be a solo outing. After the smash success, the studio wanted to reconsider those plans but waited for Phillips to come up with a creative reason for it (or so we like to believe). The movie was greenlit in 2022, one of the first moves by De Luca and Abdy, but the talent, including the actor and the director, as well as returning actress Zazie Beetz and co-writer Scott Silver, were in unique positions to renegotiate their fees.
Joker: Folie à Deux hits theaters on October 4.
About Joker: Folie à Deux
Release date: October 4, 2024
Director: Todd Phillips
Writers: Todd Phillips and Scott Silver
Production and Distribution: Warner Bros. Pictures
Cinematographer: Lawrence Sher
Production: Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios
Distribution: Warner Bros. Pictures
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Zazie Beetz, Brendan Gleeson, Harry Lawtey, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland
What did you think of the first poster of Joker: Folie à Deux? Are you excited to see the new trailer next week? What did you think about the first movie? Let us know your thoughts on our Twitter and Discord server!
SOURCE: Warner Bros. Pictures
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