Per THR: Now that Joker has crossed the $1 billion mark, a sequel is on the way. As the movie keeps raking in money overseas, Phillips is in talks to reprise his role as director for a second Joker outing (he and Scott Silver, who penned the gritty Joker screenplay, will write the follow-up). The director is likely to reteam with star Joaquin Phoenix.
Since its release six weeks ago, Joker has been breaking all sorts of records. The Todd Phillips character study became the first movie in history to receive the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival (past winners include Roma, Shape of Water and The Wrestler). When Joker first hit the big screens, it was hit with met with severe backlash from certain pockets of American media, many of whom claimed that the film would be a symbol of inspiration to incels. But of course, the film received massive plaudits from journalists and pundits as well, myself included. As far as box office is concerned, the film has become the most profitable comic book movie of all time, the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time and the cheapest film ($US 55 million) to gross $US 1 billion at the global box office. While initially slightly adamant about only doing one standalone film, director Todd Phillips seemed very open to the idea of a sequel in recent weeks. And the film’s box office receipts meant that it was all but guaranteed. What’s also interesting about the THR report is that apparently, Todd Phillips approached Warner Bros Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich on October 7 (after the film’s successful opening weekend haul) and proposed to develop a bunch of origin stories for a plethora of DC characters. Emmerich refused. Perhaps because he was still unconvinced of the film’s financial potential at the time. However, sources tell THR that Phillips did come out of the meeting with the rights to at least one other DC character. It’s still unclear as of now which character that is. That said, with the undeniable financial and critical success of the film, it looks like Emmerich and the rest of the folks at Warner Bros have given Todd Phillips the greenlight for Joker 2. Warner Bros has declined to comment nor have they made an official statement. Click here to read: 5 Things That Must Not Happen In A Joker Sequel
