Are Warner Bros. Really Planning For Two Joker Sequels?
It didn’t come as much of a surprise when Joaquin Phoenix grabbed all the Best Actor accolades during the award ceremonies last year for the movie Joker.
But what did come as a surprise was when rumors started floating around about a sequel happening. Or two!
Something that seemed a little out of the ordinary before, became a massive success. Todd Phillips’ Joker brought a whole new dimension to comic book movies.
Even though Ryan Reynolds starring Deadpool was an R-rated movie as well, Joker was darker and menacing, and in a way more real.
Phillips’ storytelling and Phoenix’s portrayal of the character was a lot different from Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime that we have known all our lives.
Which is why it was probably better to have this Joker as a standalone movie.
It was much removed from the DCEU we were introduced to so far, with Cavill’s Superman, Affleck’s Batman, and the rest of the Justice League.
But after the massive success of the movie, rumors have been floating around that Warner Bros. want to make a sequel of the movie.
Maybe more than one! According to a unanimously sourced report from Mirror, the production company would like to lock Phoenix in for two Joker sequels for an astounding sum of $50 million.
When Joker was being filmed and even after production was completed, Phillips and Phoenix were very adamant about the movie is a onetime deal.
As well as the fact that this movie will completely deviate from the current DCEU storyline.
The actor in many of his interviews had recounted how the preparation for the movie had been tiresome and isolating for him.
“At the end of the night, there was never really an end. It stayed with me every night after work for another two or three hours. I never felt this moment of being done with my workday… I didn’t socialize at all. The person I interacted with was [director Todd Phillips]. That became my world. It was nonstop.” said Phoenix about his preparation for the role.
So it was not a surprise when the news spread then about it being a one and only time kind of deal.
But now it seems like the audience might get a whole other pair of follow up movies.
The biggest question is whether Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix will accept this proposition.
The source from the Mirror article is quoted saying – “They plan to make two sequels in the next four years, with a long-term commitment to Joaquin and his Joker director Todd Phillips and producer Bradley Cooper. It’s all about getting Joaquin to accept the terms –- and the biggest payday of his career by far.”
We don’t know how much truth this rumor is based on. But if we do get a pair of sequels, I don’t think the audience would mind. Especially with Phillips and Phoenix back at the helm!
It is reasonable to think Warner Bros. would want to expand on their profiting after Joker turned out to be such a massive hit at the box offices.
Other than Deadpool, very few R-rated comic book movies have been able to make their mark in Hollywood until then.
Given that Phoenix was late to commit even during the first Joker movie, it is not so shocking that Warner Bros. want to have him committed to the project with such a large sum of cash! Whether he (and Phillips) accepts it or not, and how much truth there is to these floating rumors, I guess we will know soon enough!
According to the article by Mirror, Warner Bros. want to release the next two sequels by 2022 and 2024 respectively. And maybe we will get some Joker vs. Batman on-screen action again?
