Warner Bros has released the first real look at Todd Philips’ sequel to 2019’s Joker – Joker: Folie A Deux.
When Joker released in 2019 it became one of the most talked about films of the year, not to mention one of the most commercially successful. Todd Philips’ take on the Clown Prince of Crime’s origin story featured an absorbing central performance from Joaquin Phoenix that would earn the actor an Oscar, adding another memorable cinematic interpretation of the popular character to what is becoming an increasingly long list.
Given that the first film grossed over a billion dollars at the global box office, Warner Bros was very keen to secure Philips and Phoenix for a sequel.
Enter Joker: Folie a Deux then: a film that looks to be taking some bold creative choices, much like its predecessor.
Also like the original, 4th October is the release date for the film, meaning that Joker: Folie a Deux will release on the exact same day and month as its predecessor did back in 2019.
Lady Gaga joins the action this time as Harley Quinn, so we can expect some kind of a take on Mad Love, the story that charts the twisted romance between Joker and Harley. Reports that the story will partly be set in Arkham Asylum (which we see in the trailer) also seem to have been accurate.
Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener and Steve Coogan will also appear alongside a returning Zazie Beetz.
The trailer is built around music, an unsurprising choice given that all the talk about the sequel has focused on the fact that it may well be an out and out musical.
Given that the film’s budget has reportedly ballooned to $200m (the first one reportedly cost around $80m), that means that once again, Philips and his collaborators are making some bold moves. Will it work? The cinematic landscape has changed dramatically since 2019 but if any film this year can get audiences back to cinemas in the kind of numbers we saw Barbie and Oppenheimer doing last year, it’s probably this one.
Joker: Folie a Deux releases on 4th October. You can catch the trailer below.
