Joker 2 Updates: Joaquin Phoenix is open for a sequel but unsure about its making

Is DC Comic's psychological thriller film Joker 2 still on cards? Back in 2019, the film “Joker” won millions of hearts, thanks mainly to the antihero played by Joaquin Phoenix. Produced by Todd Phillips, Joker became the sixth highest-grossing film of the year.

What are the latest updates?

There have been conflicting media reports on the topic over the past months. Some of them predict Joker 2 might happen in the future. Some say the sequel might not happen after all. Shortly after the release of the first sequel, gossips around Joker 2 had been doing the rounds for long. Just before the release of “Joker” in 2019, some reports claimed that Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips could make more sequels of the franchise, provided the first movie becomes successful.

It was also published by several media that USD 50 million was offered to Joaquin Phoenix to return to Joker 2 and 3. One of the latest reports published in May 2021 claimed that Joker 2 was in the works with producer Todd Phillips. The report also claimed that some members of the creative team from the first film are on board for the follow-up.

Joker 2 is reportedly in the early stages of development over at Warner Brothers. The film will be set several years after 2019 and would focus on Arthur Fleck's (played by Joaquin Phoenix) rise as a criminal in Gotham City versus his descent into insanity.

In an interview with The Playlist to promote his role in Mike Mills’ new drama CmonCmon, Joaquin Phoenix talked about Joker 2. While he was asked whether the movie is on the cards, he simply answered “I dunno."

"I mean, I dunno. From when we were shooting, we started to —you know, uhh, this is an interesting guy. There are some things we could do with this guy and could [explore] further. But as to whether we actually will? I don’t know."

What we reported so far?

Back in 2019, before the release of Joker, Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips decided to have more sequels if the first movie emerged successfully. After seeing the box office performance of Joker, the producer decided to make Joker 2 if Joaquin Phoenix is interested.

Later Todd Phillips stated "the movie's not set up to have a sequel. We always pitched it as one movie, and that's it." But we should not put down our trust as Joaquin Phoenix spoke to the TV journalist Peter Travers "I can't stop thinking about it [Joker 2] ... if there's something else we can do with Joker that might be interesting."

Daily Mirror newspaper reported that Joaquin Phoenix is to finalize the offering of USD 50 million contracts to play for Joker 2 and Joker 3. The source also reported that the scripts for both the sequels are already written and Joaquin Phoenix is ready to play his role, Arthur Fleck or Joker.

The insider from Joker 2 production also said, "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."

However, in November 2019, Todd Phillips has spoken to IndieWire and told, there is no Joker sequel in the works. But there could be. After that several media wrote that Phillips had no deal for Joker 2.

So, as per the current scenario, we are still far away from Joker 2. Of course, this time (before getting excited again) we must wait until we get the official confirmation for Joker 2 or a spin-off.

Stay tuned to Devdiscourse to get the latest updates on Hollywood movies.

Also Read: Raya and the Last Dragon 2: Will Disney go for a sequel or spin-off?