After the incredible success achieved byJoker,Joker 2is now in the works. According to a new report, Todd Phillips is in talks with Warner Bros. to reprise his role as director for the planned follow-up, which will also reteam him with co-writer Scott Silver to pen the screenplay. Sequel options are also said to be in place for star Joaquin Phoenix, and as the actor has already said publicly he’s open to reprising the role of Arthur Fleck, it’s expected he will be back as the Clown Prince of Crime as well. Warner Bros. and reps for Phillips have both reportedly declined to comment on the news.
Additionally,Todd Phillipsis also set to develop another origin story movie for a different DC villain. Reportedly, the director met with Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich on Oct. 7 followingJoker’s record-breaking opening weekend. Clearly feeling he had some leverage, Phillips proposed developing a portfolio of separate movies based on various DC villains. Said to be protective of the DC brand, Emmerich declined to give Phillips everything he wanted, though the filmmaker did leave with the rights to at least one other origin story. There’s no word on who this other mystery villain might be, so everyone fromBatman’s Rogues Galleryto Lex Luthor and General Zod are possibilities.
It’s no big surprise at all to see Warner Bros. moving forward withJoker 2negotiations. Among other broken records,Jokerhas become the most profitable comic book movie ever made and is theonly R-rated movie to surpass a billion dollarsin ticket sales at the worldwide box office. Even still, the movie plays in theaters around the globe, continuing to bring in additional money for the studio every week. However, many fans of the movie may be leery about seeing a secondJokermovie getting made, feeling the character’s story has been told and topping the “masterpiece” that is the original will be next to impossible for Phillips and Phoenix. Creatively, it could be argued that it might be best to just leave it be.
Still, for those feeling a bit apprehensive about the concept ofJoker 2, Todd Phillips andJoaquin Phoenixhave both suggested they’d only be interested if a strong enough idea came along. “It couldn’t just be this wild and crazy movie about the Clown Prince of Crime. It would have to have some thematic resonance in a similar way that [the original] does,” Phillips recently explained about the idea. As for Phoenix, the actor had previously said he was open to doing a sequel by revealing he’d had plenty of talks about it with Phillips. “I talked to Todd a lot about what else we might be able to do - in general, just working together, but also, specifically, is there something else with Joker that might be interesting?” Phoenix explained.
Jokeris playing in theaters everywhere and will be available on home video in January. No word yet on when we can expect to see the planned sequel, but the process is still in the very early stages at this time. This news comes to us fromThe Hollywood Reporter.
