If Todd Phillips’ follow-up to the award-winning Joker, an outlandish musical titled Joker: Folie A Deux, is anything like the original, the film’s rating should come as no surprise.
We’ve learned the Motion Picture Association (MPA) has seen and rated Joker 2, giving it an R-rating like the 2019 film. The association’s rating bulletin states that the film is “Rated R for some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity.”
While the violence and language were prevalent in the first film, the inclusion of what they describe as ‘some sexuality’ and ‘brief full nudity’ is a new one. While Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck/Joker had an imaginary relationship during Joker, it seems like Joker: Folie A Deux is upping the ante when Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn enters the mix.
The Rated R factor didn’t seem to hurt Phillips’ Joker in 2019. The film surpassed Deadpool as the highest-grossing film with an R Rating at $788.1M worldwide, on its way to making a billion dollars—the first R-rated film to do so. Could Joker: Folie A Deux follow in its footsteps? Some industry projects have the film coming in at around $800 million. It would still place it in the top three R-rated films at the box office, behind the original Joker and Christopher Nolan’s Best Picture-winning Oppenheimer.
Plot details on the sequel have yet to be revealed, but a poster (which you can see below) was recently released ahead of the trailer on April 9th.
Joaquin Phoenix reprises his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck/Joker, along with Zazie Beetz’s Sophie, while other new additions to the cast for the sequel include Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born) as Harley Quinn and Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin), Harry Lawtey (Industry), Catherine Keener (The Adam Project), and Jacob Lofland (Mud) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.
Joker: Folie À Deux is slated to release on October 4th, 2024.
