Audiences just got their first look at DC’s upcoming movie Joker: Folie à Deux, and while it has answered some questions about the film’s setup, one major element remains a mystery. This isn’t too shocking, the trailers for Joker were also somewhat enigmatic and did their best not to give too much away. If the first movie is any indication, anything seen in the trailer should be taken with a grain of salt, as these scenes may have a very different context in the final film.
The Joker: Folie à Deux trailer revealed a change to the origin story of Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn and some insight into what Arthur’s life is like behind bars. It also seemed to indicate that the movie would be leaning even more heavily into dream and fantasy sequences, which will likely explain the movie’s musical numbers. However, the musical number in the trailer does raise a question that DC doesn’t seem ready to answer just yet, at least not in the trailer.
It has been reported that Joker: Folie à Deux will be a jukebox musical, featuring 15 well-known songs. Seeing the trailer, however, this doesn’t come across very clearly. While a cover of Jackie DeShannon’s “What the World Needs Now is Love” is playing throughout the trailer, that doesn’t necessarily announce that Joker: Folie à Deux is a musical. After all, the original Joker trailer prominently featured music and dancing as well, but the movie wasn’t a full-on musical the way its sequel will be.
It would almost seem like the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer is intentionally keeping the fact that the movie is a musical hidden from audiences that have only seen the trailer but haven’t been following news about the movie. This might seem like a strange choice, but it’s actually one that has a pretty strong recent precedent. Warner Bros. used this same tactic with another recent movie and may be doing the same with the Joker sequel.
Warner Bros. Discovery recently released the musical Wonka starring Timothée Chalamet. However, .s for the movie, similar to the Joker: Folie à Deux trailer, downplayed the extent to which the movie was a musical. It isn’t just WBD that is doing this either. The 2024 Mean Girls movie was an adaptation of the stage musical, but kept the musical elements out of the trailers. This could easily have led people to believe that it was simply a remake of the original 2004 Mean Girls instead of the musical.
One possible reason for this could be that movie musicals are not nearly as popular as they once were. Studios may be wanting to draw in audiences by downplaying the musical elements of their movies and relying on positive word of mouth for a sustained box office return. This may be especially true for Joker: Folie à Deux, since a jukebox musical might not be what fans of the first film are expecting from the Joker sequel. Someone looking for another dour take on the iconic Batman villain could be unhappy to realize the Joker sequel will seemingly have a major genre and tonal shift.
It isn’t just the trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux that is downplaying the musical elements of the movie. Director Todd Phillips recently tried to distance the movie from being labeled a musical when asked about it at CinemaCon 2024. According to THR, Phillips said in regards to Joker: Folie à Deux being a musical:
Phillips’ comments would make sense if Joker: Folie à Deux is simply using music as a backdrop the way the first movie did. However, if the film truly is planning to have 15 musical numbers, that seems much more like a traditional musical. If all the stylized scenes from the trailer of Joker and Harley dancing or singing are musical numbers, then that’s certainly a big chunk of the film.
It’s unclear at this point if the marketing for Joker: Folie à Deux is simply trying to downplay the musical elements of the movie, or if the movie is less of a musical than it was previously thought to be. It seems as though Phillips and the trailer would prefer audiences not to consider the movie a full-on musical. For now, it appears audiences will have to wait for more footage of Joker: Folie à Deux to see if this first trailer is simply trying to hide the movie’s musical elements.