A couple of days ago, THR reported that Joker director Todd Phillips has officially signed on to direct a sequel to the hugely-successful R-rated comic book movie adaptation, as well as developing “at least one other DC story.”
No sooner had the story been published than fellow trade Deadline ran its own report, calling it “clickbait” and suggesting that there’s yet to be any official talks about a sequel to the billion dollar-grossing DC movie. And, it seems that Deadline was correct on this occasion, as Phillips himself has explained to IndieWire:
“Well, a movie doesn’t make a billion dollars and they don’t talk about a sequel,” said Phillips. “Joaquin and I have publicly said we’ve been talking about a sequel since week two of shooting because it’s a fun thing to talk about. But the [THR] article was referring to other things than that that were just frankly untrue. I don’t know how it gets started, if it’s some assistant trying to gain street cred with a writer.”
“Here’s the real truth about a sequel,” he continued. “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.”
Given the unprecedented success that Warner Bros. has had with Joker, one would have to imagine it is only a matter of time before Phillips and company sit down with executives in an official capacity, as the studio must surely be itching to get the ball rolling on a second film.
Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix (The Sisters Brothers), Robert De Niro (Goodfellas), Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2), Bill Camp (Red Sparrow), Frances Conroy (American Horror Story), Brett Cullen (Narcos), Glenn Fleshler (Billions), Douglas Hodge (Penny Dreadful), Marc Maron (GLOW), Josh Pais (Motherless Brooklyn), Shea Whigham (Kong: Skull Island), Douglas Hodge (Robin Hood) and Dante Pereira-Olson (You Were Never Really Here).
