JOKER: FOLIE à DEUX (2024): Todd Phillips’ Musical Sequel Increases Budget to $200 Million

Joker 2 Gets Budget Increase with Lady Gaga Bagging $12 Million

Joker: Folie à Deux will now have a $200 million budget which is a significant increase from 2019’s Joker‘s $60 million budget. 

When 2019’s Joker opened, it stunned everyone in Hollywood. Not only did the film crack $335 million at the domestic box-office, it soared internationally which put the film’s total worldwide grosses at well over $1 billion. But, that was, of course, before the pandemic when everyone went to the movies. That’s what makes the surprising revelation of the new sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux‘s $200 million budget such a surprise. The first film was money smartly spent with a conservative $60 million. This time, Warner Bros. Discovery is so confident that they will have a hit with this year’s Joker follow-up film that they’ve gone a bit wild in terms of spending, which includes a $20 million pay day for star, Joaquin Phoenix and $12 million for co-star, Lady Gaga.

This Joker sequel is the first musical in the history of comic book movies! The first film was a success, perhaps, because of its gritty realism, and the studio is now depending on the sequel to drive home musical numbers successfully, especially with the attachment of music sensation/accomplished actress Gaga to the project. While the same director as the 2019 movie is also attached to the sequel, the new picture could end up being a different type of animal than the original successful Joker movie.

Joker: Folie à Deux will be this year’s only DC release so a lot is riding on the film’s success in Hollywood. That’s because many recent DC films like The Flash and Blue Beetle were disappointments at the domestic box-office. Even Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom only made a little more than $120 million domestically, suggesting that DC movies may have had their day. But, the new Joker film may just be the answer to change the financial situation for the comic book film studio.

In the new film, Gaga will serve as Harley Quinn while Phoenix will be reprising his role as the Joker from the original picture. It all sounds like a can’t miss formula on paper and the success of the movie will be dependent on how good it is number one and number two, how well the audience resonates with the material. In the original 2019 movie, people saw a bit of a human side to the Joker as he started out as a regular guy who transformed into the evil villain he became. Will the fact that the character has already been developed into the crazed Joker hurt the film’s chances at success? We shall certainly see this fall.

According to sources, production of Joker: Folie à Deux has been taking place in New York just like the original. That means that there are skyrocketing costs associated with filming there that have helped the budget balloon to $200 million. The salaries for the stars are what they are. The first Joker film was a pre-pandemic success. Can the sequel prove that adult audiences can still come out in droves to the movies again? Oppenheimer‘s success may suggest the answer to that question could be a resounding “yes!” 

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