UPDATE! (11/21/19)
Yesterday morning, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER said, basically, that there was going to be a sequel to JOKER and director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix were essentially set to return.
Not long afterward, DEADLINE disputed their fellow trade’s report.
The ballad of the dueling trades, I suppose.
Now, Todd Phillips himself has spoken via INDIEWIRE.
You can read the entire article HERE — and he had A LOT to say — but this quote pretty much sums it up…
Here’s the real truth about a sequel. While Joaquin and I have talked about it, and while touring the world with Warner Bros. executives — going to Toronto, and Venice, and other places — of course, we’re sitting at dinner and they’re saying, ‘So, have you thought about…?’ But, talking about contracts, there’s not a contract for us to even write a sequel, we’ve never approached Joaquin to be in a sequel. Will that happen? Again, I just think the article was anticipatory at best.
Here’s the deal folks: JOKER was conceived as a one-off film. It was not made to spawn a JOKER franchise or sequels.
And then it made ONE BILLION DOLLARS dammit!
So yeah, I get it.
Studio execs doing what studio execs do, they saw dollars signs in their eyes and started thinking SEQUEL! Of course, they probably didn’t consider the fact that the absolute genius of JOKER is that any sequel should take place in the heads of everyone who saw it.
Frankly, I thought (hoped?) JOKER marked a different way of doing things for not only DC on film at Warner Bros., but for the “comic book movie” genre in general: Maybe every film based on a comic book doesn’t have to be a franchise starter and spawn sequels.
But alas, it appears that I was wrong…and apparently, really naive.
We’ll see what happens I suppose; but at this point, I figure money will talk, and a sequel to JOKER will come regardless.
Fans may not deserve it, but sometimes, it would be cool to have for their faith rewarded.
Yeah, probably not.
The first update and original reports are found below. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
Earlier today, a report dropped in THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER saying that Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix would team-up again for a sequel to JOKER.
Per DEADLINE, a JOKER sequel may end up happening (though it shouldn’t), but nothing is currently in the works. Check it…
The Joker sequel news that hit a trade today is great click bait, but multiple inside sources said that while a sequel to the billion dollar grossing film is an obvious likely eventuality that makes all the financial sense in the world, at this point there are no deals for a sequel, nor even any negotiations with director Todd Phillips or his co-writer Scott Silver to craft one.
Those sources add that the linchpin of today’s THR story — that a week after Joker‘s opening, Phillips met with Warner Bros film chief Toby Emmerich to pitch a portfolio of DC character origin stories — is as flat false…
Hmm…
I’m quite sure that Warner Bros. is thinking/considering a sequel to JOKER since it made a billion dollars worldwide (though there shouldn’t be one). I would remind the fine folks in Burbank that JOKER was intended to be a one-off and that its genius is its ambiguity. The movie can be interpreted in multiple ways and everyone’s take on it is valid. A sequel would — in my opinion — negatively affect the original and show everyone how the magic trick was done.
For the full report, click on the links provided. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
