Obviously, with 'Joker' flying past the billion-dollar mark at the box office on a production budget of $60 million, people are going to be excited about the prospect of a sequel.
Just two days ago, both THR and Deadline - two of the biggest trade bibles in this industry - reported that a sequel was now in the works for Phillips' down-and-gritty take on the supervillain, but stopped short of confirming any further details on the matter.
However, Phillips himself clarified said reports just a day or two later at a live Q&A of 'Joker' that was reported on by The Playlist, which basically debunked it as being "anticipatory at best." As he tells it, THR's story "referred to a meeting that was never had."
"Obviously, sequels have been discussed when a movie that cost $60 million made $1 billion, but we have not had any serious conversations about it," Phillips added. "We don’t have a deal with Joaquin, they don’t have a deal with me and the writer... It's hard thing to refute when you don’t have a Twitter account, and you’re not really out there."
To be fair to Phillips, he is on Instagram quite a bit so maybe put up a Story and just call out the bullshit for what it is? It's not that hard. Plus, you can write lots of text on that Create Mode on Instagram.
Just saying, like.
Going beyond social media mechanics for a moment, a sequel for 'Joker' does feel like something of a waste for what the movie was - a bold, fresh take on superhero franchises, so by turning it into one in a sequel, you're basically undoing everything it worked to achieve.
'Joker' is currently in Irish cinemas.
