Joker 2, or as its officially titled Joker: Folie à Deux, apparently has a budget of around $200 million, which is more than triple the first movie’s budget of $60 million. Warner Bros. Pictures hasn’t fully disclosed the exact budget of the first Joker movie nor its sequel yet, though a good chunk of that $200 million seems to be put aside for the movie’s lead co-stars, Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.
As reported by Variety, the budget for Joker: Folie à Deux is somewhere around $200 million. Joaquin Phoenix, who is reprising his role as the clown prince of Gotham, will reportedly get paid out $20 million for his role, while Lady Gaga is apparently getting $12 million for her role as Harley Quinn in Joker 2.
$200 million might seem like an astronomical budget for a comic book movie about a villain who doesn’t have any big superpowers (and thus doesn’t require tremendous effort in the visual effects department), though it makes sense when you consider that the first Joker movie was a huge hit for Warner Bros. Pictures and DC, passing $1 billion at the worldwide box office (via Box Office Mojo). It also set a new record for the highest-grossing R-rated comic book movie of all time.
The premise of Joker: Folie à Deux is still a bit of a mystery. The first movie was framed as a gritty crime drama inspired by Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. However, previous reports suggest that the sequel could be a musical. Naturally, you wouldn’t hire Lady Gaga for a project if it wasn’t going to highlight her talents as a singer. The actress has been known to star in roles that don’t involve singing either, so we’ll just have to wait for an update from DC to confirm this news.
Joker: Folie à Deux is set to release in cinemas on 4 October 2024.
Source: Variety
