“He’s not alone anymore.” Against seemingly all odds, given its R-rating, adult nature, and disconnection from traditional cinema superheroics, Warner Bros. “Joker” movie earned over $1 billion at the box office in 2019, the sixth highest-grossing movie of the year, even outgrossing “Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker” worldwide.
Previously, the highest-grossing R-rated superhero film was “Deadpool 2” ($785.8 million), but “Joker,” a much grittier “Taxi Driver”-esque drama than a superhero film, trumped that figure by nearly $400 million. Either way, a franchise was born.
So yes, despite initial protests of a one-and-done, director Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix have returned for the sequel, “Joker: Folie À Deux.” Said to be a musical, in the sequel, Lady Gaga joins the cast playing the Joker’s ill-fated girlfriend, Harley Quinn.
Written once again by Todd Phillips and Scott Silver (“Logan,” “The Fighter”), the ‘Folie A Deux’ sequel centers on Arthur Fleck in Gotham’s Arkham Asylum, where he meets the psychologist meant to treat him, Dr. Harleen Quinzel, who eventually becomes the character Harley Quinn.
“Joker: Folie À Deux” features Zazie Beetz reprising her role from the original and then features newcomers like Steve Coogan, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Ken Leung and Harry Lawtey in undisclosed roles.
No official synopsis has been released yet.
“Joker: Folie À Deux” has an R-rating again, no shocker there, and was once again shot by cinematographer Lawrence Sher with music by Hildur Guðnadóttir, who won the Oscar for Best Score last time. Musical this time comes from Gaga and several other renditions of classics. The main difference? “Joker was made for around $55–70 million, and the budget has inflated substantially this time, rising to a reported $200 million.
Warner Bros. will release ‘Folie À Deux’ on October 4, 2024. Watch the first trailer below. By the way, the song in the trailer is “What The World Needs Now Is Love” by Burt Bacharach, usually made famous by Dionne Warwick, though obviously this is a different version, sung by Tom Jones and Sammy Davis Jr.