The sequel to the 2016 film Joker has the potential to be a financial success for DC Comics before the release of James Gunn’s remake.
Joaquin Phoenix, who reprises his role as the Joker, and Lady Gaga, who plays Harley Quinn, may be nominated for and take home an Oscar for their work in Joker 2. This has the potential to elevate the status of DC films and improve their reputation.
The decision to make Joker 2 a musical paves the way for other, more daring experiments in the DCU, giving superhero films a fresh, new aesthetic. Also, this would give the Caped Crusader even more outlandish comic book abilities in Matt Reeves’s The Batman Elseworlds realm.
Joker: Folie à Deux’s significance to the future of the DC Universe and The Batman: Part II is enhanced by a few factors. The recent DC film industry disasters only emphasize the significance of this. The latest DCEU film to tank at the box office was 2023’s Shazam! Both “Fury of the Gods” and “The Flash” rank among the lowest grossing superhero films of all time. On the other hand, Blue Beetle is just attempting to break even and isn’t likely to generate any money at all.
So far, the DC Extended Universe’s (DCEU) films have been financially unsuccessful. The last successful DCEU film for Warner Bros. was 2016’s Shazam. Since moviegoers aren’t inclined to trust the DC brand given the general lack of success of recent superhero movies, many are wondering if this will damage James Gunn’s DCU remake. Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to 2019’s Joker and an impending Elseworlds film, contains a few details that indicate its significance to upcoming DCU movies from James Gunn and other Elseworlds projects like Matt Reeves’ The Batman — Part II.
Before the DC Universe gets rolling, Joker 2 is DC’s best shot at a blockbuster.
The first reason Joker 2 is significant for the DCEU is that the original film was financially successful. A standalone story starring the Clown Prince of Crime was always a gamble, even if the Joker is a well-known character in the Batman universe. Because of the backlash against Sony’s standalone villain stories like Venom, many were skeptical of DC’s attempts to accomplish the same with its own iconic bad guys.
Joker was a big financial success despite the fact that it was fraught with peril during production. As the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2019, and the third-highest-grossing DC film of all time (after The Dark Knight Rises and Aquaman), the film generated just over $1 billion at the international box office. Despite Shazam being the last profitable DCEU film, Joker 2 has the best chance of any DCEU film to become a major box office success before James Gunn’s DCU takes over.
With the DCEU in disarray and audiences losing interest in superhero movies in general, Aquaman 2 may not do as well at the box office when it finally arrives in 2023 as the original film did. On the other hand, Joker 2 retains many of the strengths of its predecessor, including its central cast members, its directors, its writers, and its overall tone and style. In light of the previous film’s undeniable financial success, October 2024’s release of Joker: Folie à Deux represents DC’s final, best shot for a genuine box office victory before Gunn’s remake.
Joker 2 is DC’s last chance for an Oscar before James Gunn’s revamp.
Another item that could give DC another injection of adrenaline before Gunn’s revamp are the Oscar possibilities of Joker 2. Joaquin Phoenix, who appeared in the original film, was named Best Actor at the 92nd Academy Awards. After Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the same character in The Dark Knight, this was only the second time in history that a superhero film won an Oscar for best picture. The only live-action superhero films to win in the major categories are Joker and The Dark Knight, however several others have won for technical aspects of their production, such as visual effects, costumes, makeup, and music.
Joker 2 will most likely follow suit. There is no doubt that Joaquin Phoenix will give an even better performance in the sequel. Lady Gaga, a newcomer nominated for an Oscar, gives the film a boost in the acting category thanks to her performance as Harley Quinn. Gaga’s performance is sure to generate Oscar buzz after the release of Joker 2. This means that the actors in Joker: Folie à Deux have a real shot at winning big at the Oscars for DC.
The 2019 film Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, was nominated for three Academy Awards but ended up losing to other films in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. There’s a fair potential that more than just the two leads may be nominated for Oscars for their work in Folie à Deux, thanks to the return of directors and screenwriters Todd Phillips and Todd Silver from the previous film. The Oscar buzz surrounding Joker 2 may provide DC with a final shot at success before James Gunn’s relaunch. More optimism for DC’s film future has been generated.
Joker 2’s shift in tone will allow James Gunn’s DCU to get even crazier and stranger.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Joker 2 is that it will be a musical. There has been nonstop speculation ever since it was announced that Joker 2 will be a musical. This, though, is a refreshing departure from the typical DC film. The most audacious success story of the entire series would be the Joker sequel’s conversion to a musical, if it proves successful in the bigger realm of superhero movies. Joker was the first superhero film to actively experiment with genre-hopping, and its sequel appears to push the envelope even farther.
If the film is successful, subsequent DC Universe films will have more leeway to experiment and differentiate themselves from the more formulaic, uninteresting superhero films that have been released recently. The success of a radical shift, like as Joker 2’s new score, could encourage the DCU to follow suit, as James Gunn prefers to make superhero movies that are more odd and distinct in terms of genre. The success of Joker 2 as a musical has the potential to shake up the DCU and introduce some fresh ideas. This would be great for the series and give fans more of the fresh stories they crave from their superhero films.
A possible role for the Joker in Batman 2
Finally, the musical elements of Joker 2 could be useful for The Batman – Part II, the other known Elseworlds project. Joker 2’s genre-hopping success may inspire The Batman director Matt Reeves to incorporate even crazier comic book adaptations of Batman if they become popular. The success of Joker: Folie à Deux could benefit not only Gunn’s DCU but also the world of Matt Reeves’ The Batman in its sequel and beyond, by introducing characters like Clayface, Robin, and the Court of Owls, who have been deemed too “comic-booky” to be in darker live-action versions of Batman.