Joker 2’s Musical Element Isn’t the Only Way the Sequel Moves Away From the First Movie

A quick perusal of social media shows some fans are still processing the idea that Joker: Folie à Deux, a sequel to Todd Phillips’ billion-dollar-grossing favorite of edgelords everywhere, is going to be a musical. The marketing is being a little coy about it, too, with only snippets of Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck humming a few bars of Burt Bacharach to himself, or Lady Gaga’s Harleen Quinzel playfully quoting Judy Garland’s “Get Happy.” But yes: Joker 2 is expected to be a full-throated, song-in-its-heart, toe-tapper.

That departure from the first film is one of the most curious and appealing things about Phillips and Phoenix returning to the well of a project that seemed fairly insular five years ago. However, we now have confirmation that isn’t the only tip of the hat to Hollywood’s Golden Age, and specifically toward Warner Bros. at that. Indeed, according to a new report in Variety, Joker 2 is also an animated film. At least at first.

As per the trade, fans should expect the movie to kick off “with a Looney Tunes-inspired cartoon starring the Joker (courtesy of The Triplets of Belleville animator Sylvain Chomet) before hurtling through prison riots, courtroom face-offs and a variety-show sequence that finds Phoenix and Gaga portraying a homicidal Sonny & Cher.”

A Looney Tunes-inspired Joker cartoon is itself inspired… and perhaps a little ironic. While obviously DC Comics and Warner Bros. developed their legacies independent of each other in the early and mid-20th century, there has always been a certain garishly cartoonish quality to the Joker and Harley Quinn’s brand of mayhem.

When Warner Bros. Animation developed the definitive Batman cartoon series in the 1990s, The Animated Series, they repeatedly leaned into those similarities with the Mark Hamill-voiced Clown Prince frequently quoting Bugs Bunny or Porky Pig, and doing bits that wouldn’t look altogether out of place on Animaniacs—the studio’s then recent homage to WB’s storied animation legacy. It’s an idea other WB-produced projects toyed with time and again over the years, including the Margot Robbie-as-Harley Quinn fronted film, Birds of Prey.

And of course, Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck being influenced by the classic WB animated shorts, from Bugs Bunny to Daffy Duck, makes a lot of sense for a character often shown being enamored with Golden Age Hollywood musicals in the first Joker, albeit Phillips would intentionally choose the most dated and problematic musical numbers from a Fred Astaire movie like Shall We Dance as Arthur’s faves. It’s also worth noting in the last Joker: Folie à Deux trailer, Arthur can be seen watching a Pepé Le Pew cartoon on an Arkham television set.

This is thematically is a sharp idea, but the irony comes from Phillips turning to a filmmaker like Chomet to animate a Looney Tunes homage. On one level, this works for the Joker films’ more elevated pedigree. Belleville is one of the most respected adult-oriented animated films in this century and was also an Oscar contender in its day, which befits a movie set for a splashy Venice premiere like Joker 2. However, it seems like the animated talent has as much to do with the fact that under David Zaslav’s leadership, Warner Bros. Discovery has largely abandoned its legacy and history in animation, including by shuttering Cartoon Network’s beloved website, laying off staffers from Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Animation over the last several years, and ripping the classic Looney Tunes cartoons off their streaming service, Max.

They essentially are throwing Looney Tunes so deeply into the vault that future generations will probably not get the reference in a movie like Joker 2 to ol’ Pepé. So going outside WB to make an homage to WB’s legacy is… interesting.

How this will all play out remains to be seen, including the musical numbers. Personally, we expect something more conceptually surreal and cynical like Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz (1979) than a love letter to classic musicals, a la La La Land. We shall see though when Joker 2 premieres at Venice next month ahead of its Oct. 4, 2024 worldwide release date.