UPDATE: The article below is based on a report sent out by The Hollywood Reporter, but it should be noted that the trades are disagreeing with each other on this one. While THR says everything below is accurate, Deadline has posted their own article in which they say THR got it all wrong. They say Todd Phillips and WB are not in negotiations, and that the origin story pitch meeting never even happened. Meanwhile, Variety says that Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver have met with WB's Toby Emmerich to start exploring ideas for a JOKER sequel, but there are no plans for Phillips to tell any other origin stories.
Now here's the original article, based on what The Hollywood Reporter's sources told them:
In just under two months, Todd Phillips' DC Comics inspired film JOKER has become the first R rated movie to ever make more than $1 billion at the global box office. So it's no surprise that the sequel we've been hearing rumblings about is starting to move forward.
The Hollywood Reporter has heard that Phillips is officially in talks to direct a sequel to JOKER, and will be writing the screenplay with his JOKER co-writer Scott Silver.
Joaquin Phoenix is already signed on for a sequel, and has expressed interest in playing the title character again – but,
it couldn't just be this wild and crazy movie about the 'Clown Prince of Crime.' It would have to have some thematic resonance in a similar way that this does. Because I think that's ultimately why the movie connected, it's what's going on underneath. So many movies are about the spark, and this is about the powder. If you could capture that again in a real way, that would be interesting."
The Hollywood Reporter has also heard that Phillips had a meeting with Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich the Monday after JOKER's huge opening weekend and pitched the idea of developing "a portfolio of DC characters' origin stories." Emmerich wasn't interested in a series of JOKER-esque origins, but apparently Phillips did leave the meeting with the rights to tell at least one other DC Comics story. They just don't know which character would be at the center of that story.
In the meantime, Phillips has JOKER 2 to plot out and a lot of money to look forward to receiving. On JOKER, he deferred his upfront salary in exchange for a bigger percentage of the adjusted gross, and that decision could earn him around $100 million.