It’s official: a Joker sequel is coming

Who didn’t see this coming? After becoming the first R-rated film ever to make more than a billion dollars at the box office (and that’s with a comparatively modest budget of $60 million and without opening in China, a huge market), The Hollywood Reporter brings us the news that Joker — Todd Phillips’ origin story about the Clown Prince of Crime — is getting a sequel.

Phillips and Scott Silver, who wrote the original movie, will return to pen the sequel. Phillips isn’t officially signed on as a director yet, but you gotta figure it’s only a matter of time. Similarly, there hasn’t been an official announcement that Joaquin Phoenix will return to play the lead character, but Warner Bros. has a sequel option for him, and he’s getting Oscar buzz for the first movie, and he’s said he’s open to playing the character again, so you do the math.

What’s more, Phillips isn’t stopping at a Joker sequel. After the success of that first movie, he reportedly asked Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich for the rights to develop a portfolio of movies that tell the origin stories of various characters in the DC canon. THR reports that Phillips emerged from that meeting with the rights to “at least one other DC story.” And who knows? It could be more than that.

So what other DC characters could Phillips make movies about? Matt Reeves is taking care of Batman with The Batman. Maybe Phillips would stick to villains. THR suggests a Lex Luthor origin story. I could be down for that.

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h/t The A.V. Club