Joaquin Phoenix reprises his role as Batman’s notorious foe in 2019 Joker’s sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, which will make its big-screen debut on 4 October 2024, five years after the original movie’s release.
The follow-up to the blockbuster Joker is most likely going to be a musical, and Lady Gaga is reportedly set to play Harley Quinn, a partner in crime to the clown prince of crime. Although Joker was intended to be a stand-alone movie, a sequel was inevitable after the R-rated blockbuster made more than one billion dollars worldwide and won Phoenix an Oscar. Phoenix will receive a $20 million paycheck for Folie à Deux, naturally, the actor is asking a hefty sum to reprise his villainous role of Arthur Fleck, given the success of part one.
Following reports that the studio had cancelled its $90 million budgeted Batgirl, despite the DC movie being nearly finished, Warner Bros. announced the release date of Joker 2. The cancellation of Batgirl, which won’t air on HBO Max or in theatres, shocked the industry because studios hardly ever shelve a nearly completed production.
Warner Bros. needs Joker: Folie à Deux to appeal to audiences even without Batgirl on the release schedule to save its floundering DC Comics division. Both DC League of Super-Pets and The Suicide Squad underperformed at the box office during the weekend of their simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max debuts in 2022 and 2021, respectively. Warner Bros. is still struggling with The Flash plans, a $200 million budgeted DC adaptation scheduled for 2023. A recent high point for DC has been the $770 million global box office success of Robert Pattinson’s The Batman.
Todd Phillips will return to helm the sequel after steering Joker to a total of 11 Academy Award nominations. Along with Scott Silver, he also is also co-writing the screenplay.
