Todd Phillips Is Now Co-Writing A ‘Joker’ Sequel, Apparently

Tucked inside The Hollywood Reporter‘s mammoth feature on “Hollywood’s Top 100 Attorneys” is an interesting nugget for fans of 2019’s controversial, yet highly lucrative Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix. In a blurb on power lawyer Warren Dern, THR reports that he inked a deal with Warner Bros. for Todd Phillips to “co-write the next Joker installment.” While this is exciting news for Joker fans who have been itching for a follow-up movie, there are no further details and Phillips has stepped in and denied overzealous reports of a sequel in the past.

Following Joker‘s surprising billion-dollar success at the box office, Phillips spoke candidly about the chance of a sequel, and he’s made it clear that there are two major hurdles that have to be cleared: First and foremost, Phoenix’s involvement, which is in no way guaranteed, and a story that can match the “resonance” of the first film. Via Deadline:

“When a movie does $1 billion and cost $60 million to make, of course it comes up,” he laughed. “But Joaquin and I haven’t really decided on it. We’re open. I mean, I’d love to work with him on anything, quite frankly. So who knows But it would have to have a real thematic resonance the way this one did, ultimately being about childhood trauma and the lack of love, and the loss of empathy. All those things are really what made this movie work for us, so we’d have to have something that had an equal thematic resonance.”

Of course, having a story that can get Phoenix on board is key, and if Warner Bros. is eager to get a Joker sequel going, we may be witnessing the beginning steps of that process by commissioning Phillips to co-write a compelling script for the actor.