Image via Warner Bros.
Say goodbye to that iconic Bronx staircase that the Clown Prince of Crime likes to dance on, because the next DC movie Joker: Madness for two will be shot in California, due to tax credits, and the film will also have a budget of nearly $100 million.
Joker: Madness for two has a reported production budget of $98.7 million and is expected to receive approximately $12.6 million in tax credits while filming The Golden State, Deadline reported.
It’s a budget that’s nearly double that of the original 2019 film, starring director Todd Phillips. Joker with a budget of only $55 million, according to box office mojo.
Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for portraying mentally ill stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck in the first film, which won acclaim for the craft of exposed filmmaking, such as its Oscar-nominated cinematography by Lawrence Sher. Phoenix wasn’t the only one to win a golden statue either, as the film also won the Oscar for Best Original Score for composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s haunting score.
What we know so far about Madness for Two is that it will again feature Phoenix as the titular Joker, and adds the talents of pop star and actress Lady Gaga in an as yet unknown role. The current rumor is that Gaga, who won the Best Original Song Oscar for 2018’s “Shallow” from A star is born, a movie she also got an acting name for, will play Harley Quinn, Joker’s psychiatrist-turned-partner-in-crime. Other rumors indicate that the film will be a musical and will take place entirely at Arkham State Hospital.
The fact that Madness for Two Filming in California would certainly seem to add some credence to the rumor that the movie is set entirely in a mental asylum, as such a setting can easily be done in a movie studio. However, it’s also entirely possible that they’re simply recreating exterior scenes on the streets of Gotham City on other exterior movie sets in Tinsel Town.
In a statement of thanks to the California Film Commission’s Film and Television Tax Credit program, writer-director Phillips praised Los Angeles for having “more resources” to make movies than any other city.
“Having spent the past few years filming in iconic locations here in the United States and around the world, I look forward to returning to work where I call home and serving the state by bringing a project of this magnitude to life. in California. “
Madness for Two is set to hit theaters on October 4, 2024.
