Todd Phillips Says ‘Joker 2’ Is Not a Musical – By Describing It as Musical

‘Joker’ (2019) was initially meant to be a standalone film without sequels. However, Warner Bros. planned for it to inaugurate DC Black, a series of darker, more experimental films separate from the DC Extended Universe. Director Todd Phillips expressed interest in a sequel despite the original intention. By November of 2019, the sequel was confirmed in development, and in 2023 Gunn confirmed that ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ will not be a part of the mainline DCU, it will instead be released under ‘Elseworlds’ label, consistent with Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’ franchise.

Early on in the development, we learned that ‘Joker 2’ would be a musical, which is a brave choice in my honest opinion, however, the fandom was extremely polarized by this announcement.

A couple of weeks ago Variety reported on some details regarding the “musical” parts of the movie. The movie is primarily a jukebox musical, featuring around 15 covers of well-known songs one is said to be ‘That’s Entertainment’ from the 1953 musical ‘The Band Wagon,’ famously associated with Judy Garland. There’s also the possibility of adding original songs.

In his most recent interview with Variety, the director of the movie Todd Phillips also commented on ‘Joker’ musical status saying that he wouldn’t describe it as being one despite clearly describing a musical:

Most of the music in the movie is really just dialogue. It’s just Arthur not having the words to say what he wants to say, so he sings them instead.

Phillips also struggles to categorize the movie claiming that he doesn’t want fans to be put off by well-known musical stereotypes:

I just don’t want people to think that it’s like ‘In the Heights,’ where the lady in the bodega starts to sing and they take it out onto the street, and the police are dancing, no disrespect, because I loved ‘In the Heights.

No matter what Phillips says, the movie still sounds suspiciously as musical and fans agree with that notion:

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

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