I keep forgetting, partly because time has no meaning and partly because of dread, but Joker: Folie à Deux is coming out this October.
Joaquin Phoenix and director Todd Phillips were seen having dinner in LA this week, while a new trailer for the film debuted at CineEurope, the European equivalent of CinemaCon here in the US (it’s a trade show/convention for theatrical exhibitors). That new trailer hasn’t made its way online yet, but with Twisters hitting theaters in July, I bet we will see it soon enough, as both films are being released by Warner Bros. Pictures, hitching a trailer for a highly anticipated fall movie to one of your own summer blockbusters is a common marketing ploy.
Nothing has been announced yet, but Folie à Deux is assumed to play the fall festivals. Joker premiered at Venice in 2019, before playing at TIFF ahead of its billion-dollar run at the box office and eleven Oscar nominations and two wins, including Best Actor for Joaquin. Joker was hugely successful by every metric, and even though it’s a completely different group of people in charge at Warners now, I doubt they’ll mess with a winning marketing and release formula. We still have months to go, but so far, I’ve seen nothing to suggest that Folie à Deux won’t be as popular as Joker was five years ago. No wonder Todd and Joaquin are all smiles. They’re sitting on a gold mine and they know it.
