Joker: Folie à Deux Director Makes Unexpected Claim About His DC Future

Todd Phillips says Joker and Joker 2 conclude his time in the DC Universe.

By Nicole Drum

Joker: Folie à Deux is now in theaters but it sounds like the musical sequel to 2019's Joker is also writer-director Todd Phillips' swansong with DC. Phillips recently told The Hollywood Reporter that his time in the DC Universe is done. He has also previously said he wasn't interested in making a third Joker film and doesn't feel like Joker 2 leads him to a standalone film for Lady Gaga's Harleen "Lee" Quinzel.

"It's not really w here this movie is headed for me," Phillips said when asked if he'd want to make a standalone film for Lee. "I feel like my time in the DC Universe was these two films."

This wouldn't be the first time that Phillips has expressed that he has no interest in making additional Joker or Joker-adjacent films. Back in 2019, he said that there were no plans for a sequel and that Joker wasn't set up for one. However, in 2022 it was announced that Joker 2 was officially in the works. Of course, Joker getting a sequel was, in part, nurtured by the box office success of the first time and that may not be something that Joker 2 benefits from. The film's opening box office is tracking far below Joker's record-breaking $96 million debut and is looking to land somewhere in the range of $44 million and $57 million domestically, a number that puts it more in the range notable superhero underperformers Marvel Studios' The Marvels and DC's The Flash.

Joker 2 also isn't faring well with critics or with audiences. With the first Joker film, there was a wide gap between how audiences responded to the film and how critics did but for Joker 2, it's a much closer number, with critics on Rotten Tomatoes giving the film a 38% while audiences have given it a 36% percent. By contrast, 2019's Joker received a 68% "fresh" score from critics and an 89% from fans.

Related:

Joker: Folie À Deux stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck and Lady Gaga as Harleen "Lee" Quinzel, with Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin) as Jackie Sullivan, Catherine Keener (Get Out) as Maryanne Stewart, Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2) as Sophie Dumond, Steve Coogan (the Alan Partridge comedies) as Paddy Meyers, and Harry Lawtey (The Pale Blue Eye) as Harvey Dent.

Joker: Folie à Deux is in theaters now.

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