Joker sequel all but confirmed by Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix

Joker sequel all but confirmed by Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix

(Image credit: Warner Bros)

As a general rule, any movie that makes over a billion dollars at the global box office is practically guaranteed to receive a sequel – especially when it's a comic book movie. However, 2019's R-rated, Academy Award-winning film Joker is a far cry from the usual DC film, sharing about as much in common with Aquaman as Moana does with Death Wish.

That being said, rumors of a possible sequel to Joker have remained fairly consistent since the film's release, and now director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix have all but confirmed the sequel will go ahead via Instagram (opens in new tab).

In the first of two images shared by Phillips, we get a look at the cover of his finished Joker sequel script, once again co-written by Scott Silver, revealing its official title to be Joker: Folie á Deux. This is followed by a photo of Phoenix reading said script.

This is no joke

You might be wondering what the film's French subtitle tells us about the direction of Phillips' script. Folie á Deux (which translates to madness for two) is an actual psychiatric term that refers to shared psychosis due to close proximity, often between family members. It's also referred to as shared delusional disorder (SDD).

As for what this could mean for the film's story, it seems likely that Joker will be playing off of another similarly troubled character in the film. Whether that means Harley Quinn, Batman or someone else entirely remains to be seen. We'd put our money on the third option, but anything is possible.

As for whether the film itself will happen, chances are high – given that Phillips feels confident enough to share the above images, we have to assume that Phoenix liked what he read and that the film is more or less assured to go ahead – at this point it'd be the world's biggest anti-climax if the notoriously picky actor would choose to pass on the project.

Thankfully, Phoenix has been open about the possibility of a sequel in the past, having told The Playlist (opens in new tab) that "There are some things we could do with this guy and could [explore] further." Of course, we advise you wait for an official announcement from Warner Bros. before celebrating.

• Will Robert Pattinson's Batman face Joaquin Phoenix's Joker? Not likely...