After the massive success of the first film, Joaquin Phoenix's Joker was a hit with both audiences and critics and became the first R-rated movie to gross more than $1 billion, in addition to earning Phoenix a Best Actor Oscar.
Not long after the first film proved successful, it was announced that a sequel was in development with both Phillips and Phoenix returning. Much is still unknown about the sequel, but Phillips previously shared the first page of the script on social media, revealing the film's working title to be Joker: Folie à Deux. The French title roughly translates to "madness shared by two," hinting that another figure will feature prominently in the film. Not long after the title was unveiled, additional reports emerged revealing that not only is Lady Gaga in talks to Joker 2 as Harley Quinn but that the film might be a musical.
Due to the mega success of the first film, a new report from Variety claims that Phoenix could be paid as much as $20 million by Warner Bros. to reprise his role for Joker 2. This would be a massive increase from the first movie. After earning $4.5 million for the original film, the actor is said to have negotiated a much higher payout for the sequel, putting his earnings on par with the likes of Chris Hemsworth for Extraction 2 and Vin Diesel for Fast X.
While the number is a significant step up from what Phoenix was paid for the first Joker, $20 million salaries have been fairly standard for big movie stars for some time. Brad Pitt's salary for Bullet Train, for example, was also $20 million, but new streaming service models are now allowing major stars to ask for even more per picture. Considering the massive box office success of the first Joker, which is estimated to have been made for between $55 to $70 million, it's also likely that Joker 2 will see a significantly larger budget overall, in addition to Phoenix's increased salary.
While Joker 2 has yet to actually begin production, Phoenix's performance in the first film is widely considered to be one of the actor's best. The plot of Joker 2 is still mostly a giant question mark, but the film is sure to show off more of Phoenix's acting talent than ever before, especially considering he'll be following up his Oscar-winning performance in the first film. While more details regarding Joker 2 are sure to be revealed in the coming months, Phoenix's new salary certainly suggests Warner Bros. is banking on the film being as big of a hit as the original.
Source: Variety
