The first major studio to hold a panel at CinemaCon 2024 is Warner Bros. and to make up for a disappointing year for DC, they dropped the long-anticipated trailer to the sequel of 2019’s Joker.
In 2019, Joker was released to a lot of controversy but was generally liked by both critics and audiences, grossing $1.074B at the worldwide box office. It went on to be nominated for an impressive eleven Academy Awards, and walking with two of them becoming the comic-book adaptation with the most Academy Awards wins and nominations.
A big achievement for sure, so when the film was granted the green light for a sequel in June 2022, the internet went wild. Some believed a film didn’t need or deserve a sequel, whilst others were eager for more of that Joaquin Phoenix goodness.
Now after a tumultuous 2023, which consisted of colossal flops such as Shazam: Fury of the Gods, The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, DC has shown its first trailer for their next theatrical film, Joker: Folie à Deux.
The act occurred at the end of parent company Warner Bros.’ CinemaCon presentation where the teaser was shown and subsequently released online. In the teaser we witnessed our very first video looks at Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga interacting as Arthur Fleck and Harley Quinn in an ultra-grounded yet whimsically fantastical setting.
We see Joker continuing to serve his sentence at Arkham, an answer to the end of the first film where it was left up to interpretation if Arthur escaped the facility or not. We also witness the beginnings of a bad romance (pun intended) between Fleck and Quinn when they are both in Arkham and how some seemingly fictional (within the context of the story) dancing sees them interact in a La La Land-esque fashion.
All of this unfolds as Tom Jones’ 1970 version of “What the World Needs Now Is Love” plays over the gritty footage. An interesting song choice that sets the mood with themes of romance and its slowed version portraying a sense of grandeur and triumph.
There’s a lot to unpack in the trailer and we highly recommend that you check it out for yourself in order to witness what’s to come. The trailer debuted on YouTube concurrently with the panel and grossed over a million views on Warner Bros.‘s respective channels in its first hour on the platform.
Additionally in the Joker: Folie à Deux segment at CinemaCon, director Todd Phillips stated that the film isn’t exactly a musical but “music is an essential element.” So we could be in for something unique, as the film is heavily inspired by old Hollywood musicals in a similar way that Joker was inspired by Taxi Driver and King of Comedy.
Joker: Folie à Deux is directed by Todd Phillips and stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/ The Joker, Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, Steve Coogan, Ken Leung and Harry Lawtey. The film is scheduled to arrive in theatres on October 4th, 2024 and is the last DC live-action film before James Gunn and Peter Safran kick off their own theatrical DC slate in 2025. You can watch the trailer for the film below:
