Todd Phillips’Joker: Folie à Deuxwill not open with a big dramatic sequence like the first movie, or even a song and dance number like the trailers have suggested. Instead, the sequel opens with an animated Joker cartoon, setting the tone for the wild ride ahead. Following the massive box office success of 2019’sJoker, which earned 11 Academy Award nominations, including a Best Actor win for Joaquin Phoenix, expectations are high for the sequel.Jokerwas praised for being different from other comic book adaptations, and it looks likeJoker: Folie à Deuxwants to shock audiences again with an opening sequence they likely aren’t expecting.
Todd Phillips spoke withVarietyabout the upcoming DC sequel and revealed thatJoker: Folie à Deuxhas a drastically different opening than the previous film. The film apparently kicks off with an animated sequence drawn by Sylvain Chomet, French comic writer and director of the Oscar-nominated 2003 animated featureThe Triplets of Belleville. This sequence seems important for setting the tone of the movie, which features a montage of prison riots, courtrooms, and musical sequences. Regarding this opening and the tone of the film, Phillips said:
“The goal of this movie is to make it feel like it was made by crazy people. The inmates are running the asylum.”
Joker: Folie à Deux Isn’t the First DC Movie To Open With an Animated Scene
Joker: Folie a Deux
Though the idea ofJoker: Folie à Deuxopening with an animated sequence sounds novel, this isn’t the first DC superhero movie based on a Batman villain to do so.2020’sBirds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)opens with an animated sequencerecounting the character’s origin before the movie starts. The opening ofBirds of Preywas done by Hayk Manukyan, who had worked on other DC animated projects likeTeen Titans Go!and the feature filmTeen Titans Go! To the Movies. While not the opening scene, last year’sThe Marvels(made by DC competitor Marvel) featured an animated scene early on inspired by Kamala Khan’s drawings, featuring her and Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel teaming up.
Joker Director Congratulates Deadpool & Wolverine on Breaking His Box Office Record
Todd Phillips shares a hilarious photo praising Deadpool & Wolverine’s monumental cinematic achievement.
Commissioning a Looney Tunes-inspired opening forJoker: Folie à Deuxshows that Phillips has more appreciation for the Looney Tunes as a concept than Warner Bros. Discovery, the studio that owns both DC Comics andLooney Tunes.Warner Bros. canceled the completedCoyote vs. Acmemovie for a tax write-offand rejected various other studios' offers to buy the film. Meanwhile, WB sold the distribution rights to the first fully 2D-animatedLooney Tunesfeature film,The Day the Earth Blew Up, to Ketchup Entertainment. The idea that a Warner Bros. Discovery movie will pay homage toLooney Tuneswhile the actual studio seems embarrassed by the property is certainly confusing, but Phillips does not represent Warner Bros. Discovery; he’s just an individual who seems to value theLooney Tuneslegacy more than the people running the studio.
Joker: Folie à Deuxopens in theaters on August 25, 2025.
