Early this morning, news broke that not only is Joker director Todd Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver in negotiations to helm a sequel for the Clown Prince of Crime, Phillips is also in talks to deliver more origin stories for DC Comics characters that would have the same grounded and gritty feel as Joker. However, now new information has come in claiming that neither of these projects are a sure thing just yet.
While the idea of a Joker sequel is still reportedly on the table, Deadline reports that Todd Phillips and Scott Silver have not started hashing out a deal for such a project, let alone begun negotiations. The outlet also claims that Phillips did not meet with Warner Bros film chief Toby Emmerich about making other DC character origin stories, and that Phillips hasn’t even considered tackling such projects.
Although Joker was originally intended to be a one-off story, and Todd Phillips said before the movie’s release that there were no plans for a sequel, given Joker’s incredible commercial performance and how it’s permeated pop culture, it’s understandable that Warner Bros would want to at least start talking about delivering a follow-up. Even Joaquin Phoenix has come around on the sequel idea and talked with Phillips about it.
Still, while the news from earlier today made it seem like the proverbial Joker 2 train was running full steam ahead, now another source alleges that it hasn’t even left the station. We’ll have to wait for more updates to learn just how far along talks between Todd Phillips and Warner Bros are concerning a Joker sequel, but if we’re to believe Deadline, progress is still a long ways off. Although maybe a Joker anthology should be considered instead?
As for these other DC character origin stories, those are even less of a certainty, but again, we’ll have to wait and see if one, let alone several of these kind of movies move forward. Fortunately for Warner Bros, there’s no shortage of DC villains who would be prime material for such treatment, from Lex Luthor to Darkseid.
DC could easily carve out a niche for itself in the comic book adaptation realm with such unconventional and dark tales alongside the more ‘traditional’ fare that’s scheduled, like Birds of Prey and Black Adam. It’s one area that DC’s biggest competition, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, can’t operate in since it operates solely in PG-13 territory… well, unless Deadpool 3 gets off the ground, in which case we’ll revaluate.
As things stand now, Joker has crossed the $1 billion mark, making it only the fourth DC movie to do so, trailing behind Aquaman, The Dark Knight Rises and The Dark Knight. There’s been a lot of talk about what Joker’s prospects in the coming awards season will look like, particularly for Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as Arthur Fleck, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates on that front, as well as clarification regarding the sequel and other origin stories.
Joker is slowly wrapping up its time in theaters, so catch it while you still can, and be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of the movie. You can also learn what’s hitting the silver screen in the near future with our 2019 release schedule and 2020 release schedule.
