An Academy Award-winning Joaquin Phoenix film is getting a sequel, and no it’s not Her 2: The Software Update. In a June 7 Instagram post, director Todd Phillips confirmed that Joker 2: Folie à Deux is in the works, with a script penned by Phillips himself and Scott Silver.
The film’s subtitle is a psychiatric phrase now more commonly referred to as “shared psychotic disorder,” which describes a condition in which the same delusion is shared by multiple people in close proximity to one another. Because of the title, people are speculating the film could introduce Batman and focus on the notion teased in the first film that the characters are half-brothers who share Thomas Wayne as a father. It’s worth noting that in September 2019, Phillips shot down the idea of Robert Pattinson’s Batman appearing in a movie alongside Phoenix’s Joker, though that was before both films became colossal hits. Others have posited that the title could be referencing the Joker paramour and fan-favorite character Harley Quinn.
Though Joker polarized film critics, its success cannot be overstated. It earned over $1 billion globally against a budget less than half of what typical comic book movies cost nowadays, and notched 11 Oscar nominations, with Phoenix winning Best Actor. Phoenix also earned praise from the likes of Jessica Chastain and comic book film skeptic Ridley Scott, while Michael Mann wrote an effusive letter to Phillips and the creative team behind the picture.
The idea of a Joker sequel has been in discussion since late 2019. That November, Phillips spoke to Indiewire, explaining that, at the time, “there’s not a contract for us to even write a sequel,” though he and Phoenix had been talking about what a sequel could look like since the early days of shooting the first one. Phillips also said that initially he had come to Warner Bros. looking to make “a whole label” of character-driven comic movies, but that the studio countered by suggesting they start with one.
(But news of the sequel was seemingly confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter in May 2021 in somewhat surprising fashion. A story about Hollywood lawyers included the nugget that attorney Warren Dern’s client, Todd Phillips, had “struck a deal to co-write the next Joker installment.”)
A release date hasn’t been set, but it’s unlikely Joker 2: Folie à Deux will be out before 2024. Even still, that likely puts it ahead of a Pattinson Batman sequel—which producer Dylan Clark has said will take a bit less than five years to release.