Joker: Folie à Deux: Todd Phillips wanted “nothing to do with DC”

Joker: Folie à Deux wasn’t meant to be a gamble. After the first film grossed over $1 billion worldwide against a budget of just $60 million, a sequel was a no-brainer. However, the studio wound up spending $200 million (plus $100 million in marketing costs) for a sequel which the fanbase is largely rejecting. So what went wrong? According to a report from Variety, someone really needed to say “no” to Joker: Folie à Deux director Todd Phillips.

The report states that Phillips “wanted nothing to do with DC” during the production of the Joker sequel. Production began just months after James Gunn and Peter Safran took control of DC. It was expected that the pair would provide feedback, but Phillips refused and would only discuss the project with Warner Bros. motion picture group chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. However, it seemed that Phillips always got his way.

Sources say that the studio wanted to shoot the film in London, where it could have saved millions, but would agree to shoot in Los Angeles if the budget was reduced. The film was shot in Los Angeles. The budget didn’t change. Warner Bros. also wasn’t keen on debuting the film at the Venice Film Festival, especially as Phillips had refused to test screen the sequel. The Venice debut marked the first time an audience had seen the film, and it didn’t go over well. A Warner Bros. spokesperson said, “Given the film contains spoilers, the studio did not want to unnecessarily divulge plot points too early to test audiences, but rather, allow moviegoers to discover the film in their own time.“

The report also wonders whether Joker: Folie à Deux suffered from not having Bradley Cooper involved. He was a producer on the first movie and helped play a part in shaping the film during the editing process. Cooper and Phillips dissolved their partnership in 2021. “No one could get through to Todd,” said a source directly involved with the film. “And the one thing about genre stuff: If you don’t listen and pay attention to what the fan expectations are, you’re going to fail.” No one wants to be catered to, but they’re going to a film called Joker because of its connection to the DC character. “If the first movie was about some down-on-his-luck, mentally ill guy in a downtrodden city, it makes maybe $150 [million] worldwide. Not a billion,” said another source. “People showed up because that guy was Joker.“

As it stands, Joker: Folie à Deux will need to make at least $450 million to break even. That seems increasingly unlikely.

Our own Chris Bumbray wasn’t a fan of the sequel, feeling that it only exists because the first movie made a boatload of money. “Perhaps Joker was too big of a hit not to get a sequel, but watching Joker: Folie à Deux, you get the distinct feeling that this was an exercise in style for Phillips rather than a sequel that HAD to be made,” Bumbray wrote. “As it is, though, this Joker sequel spins its wheels and winds up being an often dull courtroom movie livened up by occasional flights of fancy into musical numbers. Those sequences are the best in the film, as without them, this would feel like a wholly unnecessary epilogue to what was originally a pretty powerful film.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here, and be sure to let us know what you think of the film as well.