Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker film received massive critical acclaim and praise when it hit theaters back in 2019 when it grossed over $1 billion globally and scored its star Phoenix for his role as the murderous clown. The film’s director also scored 11 Academy Award nominations as the director of the film and ever since fans have been itching for any details about a sequel.
It was recently revealed that the script for the Joker sequel, which will be titled Joker: Folie à Deux, had been completed and that the sequel would be a musical, with pop star Lady Gaga rumored to play the role of the Joker's love interest Harley Quinn. With some information about the film being public knowledge, more has just been revealed.
Variety reports that the release date for Joker: Folie à Deux was just revealed to be October 4th, 2024, which is precisely five years since the first film was released. This major reveal comes from Warner Bros. Studios following the shocking news that they would be scrapping the $90 million Batgirl film, which was set to star Leslie Grace as Batgirl and Michael Keaton as Batman. The choice to scrap the film came from internal money issues at the studio and higher-ups wanting to shift the studios' films back to theatrical releases, which the Joker sequel certainly will be.
The upcoming Joker sequel may be even bigger than the first film, with Phoenix being paid $20 million to reprise his role in the blockbuster franchise, Warner Bros. seems to be betting high on the film, considering it will be coming after a long line of box office flops for the studio. Some of the films that underperformed during their theatrical releases were The Suicide Squad and DC League of Super-Pets, the studio has also been in a lot of hot water in regard to prominent figures like Aquaman’s Amber Heard who very publicly slammed the studio and The Flash’s Ezra Miller who been in a lot of legal hot water in the past few years.
Despite the drama that Warner Bros. has faced recently for choices they’ve made and the actions of their movie stars, the Joker sequel, which comes after the very successful The Batman film which raked in $770 million at the box office, has very high chances of being a box office success as well. With the release date now public knowledge, the hype around the already highly anticipated Joker: Folie à Deux will only grow.
Source: Variety