“Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?”
To say that last year’s Joker movie was a big deal would be an understatement. It picked up two Oscars (including a Best Actor award for Joaquin Phoenix), made over a billion dollars and spawned endless think pieces. Not bad for a movie that’s basically a photocopy of a Martin Scorsese film with some Batman characters doodled over it.
No matter what they thought of it, the one thing everyone pretty much agreed on was that Joaquin Phoenix was pretty incredible in the film. And it would make sense that Warner Bros would want to make more movies about the Arthur Fleck Joker.
Joker wasn’t really the sort of film that ended with a tease for a sequel. And the president of DC Films, Walter Hamada, recently confirmed that the movie was not intended to tie-in with either the Robert Pattinson or Ben Affleck versions of Batman. But when a movie makes over a billion dollars, the studio is going to want more.
And now the Mirror is reporting that Warner Bros are offering Joaquin Phoenix $50 million to appear in two sequels.
“Joaquin initially felt Joker was a standalone movie,” said a source. “But he’s changed his tune now. He says he wants to play this character again, despite the controversies that came with the release last year.”
“It’s still being negotiated but the scripts are being written and Joaquin is very engaged with it.”
“[Warner Bros] plan to make two sequels in the next four years, with a long-term commitment to Joaquin and his Joker director Todd Phillips and producer Bradley Cooper. It’s all about getting Joaquin to accept the terms – and the biggest payday of his career by far.”
There is obviously no word if any of those films could feature Batman, but if they can get Joaquin Phoenix tapped up to play the Clown Prince of Crime a few more times, you would think they’d try and put him against the Dark Knight at least once.