Everyone is eagerly waiting for Joker: Folie à Deux starring none other than Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. The Todd Phillips-directed movie will see Joaquin Phoenix reprising his Academy Award-winning role of Arthur Fleck/Joker for the sequel. Lady Gaga will play Joker’s love interest, Dr. Harleen Quinzel, better known as Harley Quinn.
The original Joker movie hit the theater in 2019, and it became an instant hit, both critically and commercially. The film grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office and got 11 Oscar nominations, having won two for Best Actor and Best Original Score.
Amidst all the anticipation around the upcoming film, one report arises, which is upsetting for fans. The report says that the sequel will most likely have 15 songs in it, which makes the film a jukebox musical.
Joker 2 Mostly a “jukebox” Musical
The upcoming DC sequel Joker: Folie à Deux looks like mostly to be a jukebox musical, as it will primarily feature existing songs. According to a report by Variety, the highly-anticipated movie will feature a selection of reimagined “well-known” songs, totaling at least 15 in number.
One of the confirmed songs is reportedly That’s Entertainment from the 1953 musical The Band Wagon. However, the report says that there is still an option for some original songs as well, and Hildur Guðnadóttir, the Oscar winner, will be handling the score once again.
This sequel would move forward with the story from both Phoenix’s Joker and Gaga’s Harley Quinn perspective. As of now, the plot is being kept under wrap, but it can be assumed that it will revolve around musical therapy sessions at Arkham Asylum.
Alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, the cast includes Emmy nominee Zazie Beetz as well as Oscar nominees Catherine Keener and Brendan Gleeson. Phillips collaborated on the screenplay with Scott Silver.
Fans Are Not Happy
Following the report, it seems fans are quite upset with the approach of the sequel’s makers. Recently, we saw a number of soundtracks in MCU’s The Marvels, where there were 8 songs
Earlier, the director mentioned that if Joker was his answer to Taxi Driver, then Folie A Deux was, to some extent, influenced by Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York.
That sounds awful
— BullsKickAss (@Bullskickass) March 22, 2024
Stop ruining good things by making them musicals. That movie deserves a proper sequel.
— RLes Santos (@RLesSantos) March 22, 2024
This is gonna tank so hard. Nobody wants a musical.
— Blaine Henry (@BlaineHenryTFL) March 22, 2024
how did they fumble this that bad
— ₭ma🧣 (@KmaFr_) March 22, 2024
We don’t like musicals so we won’t be watching
— Michael Kentrell Brown 💚ﾒ𝟶 (@breezybetter07) March 22, 2024
Joker (2019) was marketed as an indie and/or prestige flick, made with a $60M budget. The sequel to the film is being made at a budget of a whopping $200 million, per Variety.
And, no matter how big the stars are, fans are concerned that a musical in the current scenario will find it hard to go past its huge making cost.
Joker: Folie à Deux currently has a release date of October 4, 2024.
