Harley and Arthur trip the light fantastic in the latest Joker: Folie À Deux trailer, bringing a smile and song to faces worldwide. The new preview for Todd Phillips’ highly-anticipated sequel arrives ahead of San Diego Comic-Con weekend, setting the tone for what’s sure to be a deluge of nerdy goodness, shiny previews, and surprises!
In today’s new Joker: Folie À Deux trailer, Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix) and Harley (Lady Gaga) form a twisted union after falling madly in love while incarcerated in Gotham’s Arkham Asylum. As the duo explores their “compatible crazy,” they continue fanning the flames of Arthur’s reputation, whipping influential Gothamites into a frenzy that could bring the crime-ridden city to its knees. The fuse is lit, and the revolution is well on its way as Arthur and Harley dance through the streets, leaving chaos in their wake.
Joker: Folie à Deux has some big clown shoes to fill, especially after the first movie received 11 Academy Award nominations and became the first R-rated flick to gross over $1 billion worldwide. Warner Bros. has pumped a lot of money into the sequel, with reports stating the budget has grown to nearly $200 million, quite the leap from the $60 million budget of the first movie.
The sequel departs significantly from the original because it has some major musical elements. Joker: Folie à Deux will be “mostly a jukebox musical, including at least 15 reinterpretations of very well-known songs.” In hindsight, it would have been hard to imagine Joaquin Phoenix returning for more of the same, no matter how many dump trucks full of money they drove to his house.
In addition to Phoenix and Gaga, the film also stars Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, and Harry Lawtey. Zazie Beetz returned to reprise her role as Sophie Dumond from the first movie, a love interest for Arthur. Official plot details remain a mystery, but the trailer paints a pretty picture, and it’s been said that much of the sequel will occur within Arkham Asylum, where we left Arthur in the last film. Joker: Folie à Deux will hit theaters on October 4th.