By now you’ve either seen Joker: Folie à Deux in theaters and know from your own experience how much of a slog it is to watch, or you’ve been warned by others not to go see it. However, one legendary director is convinced this movie is much greater than it seems.

Hideo Kojima the legendary game director behind the Metal Gear Solid franchise, Death Stranding, and many more of your favorite games has shared his thoughts on the Joker sequel, and surprisingly he’s convinced that the movie will last the test of time. In fact, he thinks it’s only going to be received better in the future.

Taking to social media Kojima praised the movie for asking questions about the Joker, Arthur Fleck, and what impact the character had on audiences. Continuing his thoughts he begins to ask grander questions about heroes, villains, and the state of superhero movies right now. Ultimately his thoughts come together to boldly claim that the film’s reputation will change drastically in the next one or two decades.

“Over the next 10 or 20 years, this film’s reputation will likely change along with the permeation of hero movies to come,” Kojima wrote on X. “It may take some time for it to become a true “folie à deux.” But there is no doubt that everyone in the audience loved Joaquin and Gaga in this film”

If you’re a member of the Warner Bros. camp then we bet you’re hoping Kojima’s words ring true. Joker 2 has severely underperformed expectations not just critically, but also at the box office. However, it seems that other creatives are praising the movie, so maybe we just don’t get it.

Prior to Kojima, Quentin Tarantino shared his thoughts on the movie praising the movie and saying that he “really, really liked it,” just in case you weren’t convinced with the first. In his defense, Tarantino prefaced his thoughts by adding that he is “just nihilistic enough to kind of enjoy a movie that doesn’t quite work as a movie or that’s like a big, giant mess to some degree,” which is a valid description of the film.

While things don’t look good for the Joker sequel today, it isn’t impossible that the movie could find an audience in the future that sees the vision Todd Phillips clearly had. At the end of the day, fans were hoping for more of the Joker we met in the first film and that isn’t exactly what we were given. In fact, this sequel actively went out of its way to distance itself from the ideas of the first film, which might be where the genius is. I guess we’ll find out in a decade’s time. If you want to see what all the discourse is about and make your own mind up, Joker 2 is still showing in theaters so you can head out to your local spot and see how you like it now. 

Ever heard of a “verbal smackdown?” That is exactly what Paul Schrader did to Joker: Folie a Deux in less than 5 minutes of speaking about it.

The unexpected approach of Joker: Folie a Deux didn’t meet audience expectations, reflected clearly in its $164 million box office takings (just $835 million short of 2019’s Joker) and a meager 33% Rotten Tomatoes score. Clearly, the bold leap to transform the originally dark and gritty psychological thriller into a part-musical has landed director Todd Phillips flat on his face. But what really went wrong for audiences wasn’t just the unexpected musical twist, but also how the characters evolved — or, rather, didn’t.

While most of us (and the critics) have still been kind about Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga’s performances, the Academy Award-nominated writer, director, and critic Paul Schrader had no such patience. Speaking to Interview Magazine‘s Jeremy O. Harris, Schrader brought up watching Joker: Folie a Deux recently, and absolutely thrashed the film. The Hollywood heavyweight revealed how he couldn’t sit through the movie’s 138 minutes of runtime:

“I saw about 10 or 15 minutes of it. I left, bought something, came back, saw another 10 minutes. That was enough.”

If someone did that during my film, I’d simply give up my career and start a new life. But in true no-nonsense fashion, director Paul Schrader didn’t mince words when asked about Joker: Folie à Deux. Referring to it as a “really bad musical,” he delivered a scathing review that was equal parts brutal and, honestly, a little hilarious.

But what exactly made the movie so bad for him? Was it Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga as actors, or Arthur Fleck and Harley Quinn as characters? Perhaps both. Schrader didn’t pull any punches and slammed both the actors and the characters in one swift motion, leaving us wondering whether we should nod along or cringe in our seats. He said,

“I don’t like either of those people. I don’t like them as actors. I don’t like them as characters. I don’t like the whole thing. I mean, those are people who, if they came to your house, you’d slip out the back door.”

Ouch! It’s safe to say Schrader’s idea of hospitality doesn’t include hosting Joker and Harley Quinn anytime soon. But it wasn’t completely unexpected for him to have this brutal opinion of the film. Coming from a mind that wrote masterpieces like Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980), and directed complex narratives like American Gigolo (1980), Affliction (1997), and First Reformed (2017), Joker 2 does fall below the belt.

While not as brutal, similar reactions and reviews to the film have been coming in ever since its release. The general consensus among viewers was that the film fell short of their expectations in of elevating the Joker persona, and reviews noted that the follow-up only makes the figure into a “singing-and-dancing puppet clown living in his imagination.” (via Variety) As for Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn, the iconic manic energy is just missing.

From Barbenheimer to ExorSwift, the ever-growing trend of two movies battling for box office supremacy is undoubtedly (and hilariously) becoming mainstream. But Terrifier 3 potentially suring Joker: Folie à Deux? Bet you didn’t see that one coming.

Then again, when we flush out the individual differences of each project, it’s certainly hard to discount just how many similarities there are between Damien Leone’s blood-splattered gorefest and Todd Phillips’ less-than-desirable sequel. Seriously, Todd, we just did not need a sequel.

Now, any ionate horror or DC fan can spot the glaring similitude between Art the Clown and (Art)hur Fleck. Both are clowns, yes. Both are killers, also yes. But there’s one super-sized difference that’s growing hard to ignore, and that’s the comparison of each movie’s budget. While the third chapter in Leone’s Terrifier trilogy only required a budget of $4 million, Joker 2 cost a staggering $200 million to make happen — and still the reviews have squashed the film faster than a bug on a windshield.

As per Discussing Film, Terrifier 3 has a legitimate shot at outperforming Joker 2 at the box office this weekend, which definitely speaks volumes as to how dissatisfied the superhero community is in regards to the once-anticipated Joker sequel crashing and burning. At the time of this writing, the Lady Gaga vehicle currently holds a disastrous 33% score on Rotten Tomatoes. As for Terrifier 3? Well, it currently holds a 74% score, and it technically isn’t even available to the public audience yet.

So, why exactly is Terrifier 3 — a movie with a relatively feeble budget in regards to typical Hollywood greed — projected to perform significantly better than a DC movie? Could it be that the DC tag is simply not as powerful as it once was? Or, perhaps the superhero realm is feeling significant Joker fatigue given how often the character is depicted in entertainment media. 

That being said, one could argue that Terrifier’s expanding popularity simply continues to transcend new heights alongside the rise of the horror genre itself, which now has certainly ushered in a fresh-faced icon whose reputation is becoming as big as Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger. Now, that’s not to say the horror genre hasn’t experienced its own fair amount of fatigue over the years, especially in regards to an influx of clown-inspired horror flicks.

But to add a cherry on top of the scare-filled sundae, it’s equally possible that Terrifier 3 being banned in and causing a large portion of moviegoers to vomit in theaters has added an extra element of mystery and appeal to the feature. It’s a familiar phenomenon from the release of Terrifier 2 back in 2022, where queasy cinephiles proceeded to vomit and faint during theater showings of the gory sequel.

So, considering 2019’s Joker solidified an Oscar win for Joaquin Phoenix and the sequel needed millions of dollars to make, it’s unequivocally embarrassing that Phillips’ sequel is struggling so hard to compete with an up-and-coming slasher icon who quite literally rips the flesh off his victims and tosses salt in their wounds to make matters worse. What a guy, eh? Either way, it’s clear that there’s only room in this town for one clown — and his name is Art. Sorry, Arthur, but you’re old news.

What do you get when you cross an excellently made movie with Hollywood’s ridiculous compulsion of capitalizing on IPs and making as many sequels as the box office returns warrant them to make? You get what you [redacted] deserve!

When I finally sat down to watch Madame Web earlier this year — and not in a theater, mind you— the movie constantly reminded me of a famous quote by Roger Ebert. “If you have to ask what it symbolizes, it didn’t.” You might think that I was thrown off by the dreadful dialogue, the extremely generic premise, or the borderline nonsensical MacGuffins that kept pushing the plot to where it needed to go. You might even assume that much like the rest of the audience (and it’s indeed rare that we cinephiles can find a lynchpin of such unanimous proportions as Madame Web) I found the barely-enthusiastic acting by the cast laughable and utterly ruinous to the film’s bare allusions to a suspension of disbelief.

But the simple truth of it is, Madame Web simply coalesced all my feelings about the industry into a very entertaining 2-hour ride. Entertaining for the fact that it was so bad I actually started to enjoy myself from a certain point on. Probably about the same time as when the cast gave up all attempts at taking this seriously.

The point is, it’s extremely difficult to drop the ball so hard that it starts bouncing around the arena and sends shock waves across the entire industry, once again making everyone question if Hollywood should just call it quits with this superhero filmmaking business. And then you realize they actually managed to do it twice in the same year. Enter Joker: Folie à Deux, a film so terrible that one critic described the experience of watching it as taking “a knife to the gut.”

Joker: Folie à Deux currently holds a 33% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 45 out of 100 on Metacritic, turning it into one of the worst superhero or drama films in recent memory. And while that’s not exactly as low as Madame Web stooped, Todd Phillips somehow managed to take one of the most beloved DC films of the past two decades and with a sequel steal Madame Web‘s thunder as the worst movie of 2024 that lacks even that ironic entertainment value.

This unasked-for sequel is turning into a flop thanks to the scathing reviews, already being hailed as a worse commercial disaster than The Marvels. Say what you will about Madame Web, but at least with that plot, I could understand why I hated everything that came on the screen. With Joker: Folie à Deux, it seems, you’re mostly confused and wondering when this fever dream is going to end. Any chance Phillips and Phoenix may have had to build on the acclaimed social commentary of the original film was lost the moment they decided to go full musical.

That said, let’s not be too hasty in bestowing Joker 2 with the crown of the worst 2024 film just yet. We still have, after all, Venom: The Last Dance to look forward to in late October, and something tells me that the threequel is going to be even worse than the first two installments.

Joker: Folie à Deux is making headlines for the wrong reasons, having opened to terrible reviews, scoring an atrocious 35% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, matched by a 36% audience rating. This has been matched by a disappointing opening weekend at the box office, with the sequel having little chance of matching Joker‘s billion-dollar success.

But if Joaquin Phoenix isn’t having a great week, he can at least be relieved that he’s not Jack Nicholson in 1989. While in full Joker mode during the filming of Tim Burton’s Batman, Nicholson was exposed as cheating on then-partner Anjelica Huston with a former model, indulging in secret “kinky sex sessions”:

Perhaps this is unsurprising, Nicholson already had a well-earned reputation as “the fling king” of Hollywood. He was once asked if the rumor of him having slept with over 2,000 women in his life is true and he answered that he doesn’t keep count.

For 14 years, he had an on-and-off relationship with Anjelica Huston, daughter of Oscar-winning director John Huston and a movie icon in her own right. Wanting to demonstrate his commitment to her, Nicholson visited John Huston on his deathbed and vowed that his not-so-secret promiscuity had come to an end:

Yet, in 1989, “leggy” British model/actress Karen Mayo-Chandler revealed that she had a year-long affair with Nicholson, adding that he spent a wildly ionate night with her on the eve of John Huston’s funeral, leaving Anjelica to grieve her father’s death alone.

Anjelica Huston explained in her 2014 book Watch Me: A Memoir that the Mayo-Chandler expose was the last straw, especially as it came alongside Nicholson confessing he had a child on the way with another woman, actress Rebecca Broussard. Huston detailed her fury in her book. “I beat him savagely,” she wrote. “He was ducking and bending and I was going at him like a prizefighter.” This, perhaps understandably, was the definitive end of her relationship with Nicholson.

The headlines at the time were more concerned with the salacious details, with Mayo-Chandler saying “No one can compare to Jack Nicholson in bed. He took me to heights I could’ve never dreamed. He put me on another planet.” Yowser.

Several intimate and bizarre details piqued the public’s interest. Mayo-Chandler referred to Nicholson as a “horny little devil,” and nicknamed him “Spanking Jack.” She explained he was so kinky that he was, in her words, “a guaranteed non-stop sex machine into fun and games like spanking, handcuffs, whips, and Polaroid pictures.”

She went on to detail their marathon sex sessions and threw in the fun detail that Nicholson would refuel by gobbling peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Mayo-Chandler delighted in calling him a “naughty little boy”. We suspect Anjelica Huston had had stronger words.

After the smoke cleared, Nicholson wasn’t with Huston or Mayo-Chandler, but with Rebecca Broussard, the mother of his newborn child. None of this affected Batman‘s runaway blockbuster success, with his performance as the Joker universally considered one of the movie’s highlights. So perhaps it’s true that all publicity is good publicity — though we suspect Warner Bros. would rather Folie à Deux be making more positive headlines right now.

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Joker 2.

For all the controversy surrounding Joker: Folie à Deux, we have to hand it to Todd Phillips. The second entry to the Joker franchise was rather unexpected.

The title of the Joker sequel translates to madness shared by two, but that doesn’t even begin to describe the follow-up film. The first movie already takes DC continuity with a grain of salt. Instead of steeping the Crown Prince of Crime in mystery that he is famous for in the comics, Joker takes a hardlined approach to his backstory. Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a disenfranchised man living with mental illness. The film can hardly be called Batman-adjacent, even when Thomas and Bruce Wayne make appearances. Joker is really a film that shows that the horribly cruel women in Arthur’s life are the reason for his unhappiness, so he may as well burn the whole world down. But whether the Joker’s crimes are because of aggressively misogynistic undertones, or the dance sequence of a convicted sex offender, Joker 2 doesn’t follow the same path — and almost for worse.

Joker 2 instead focuses on Arthur’s romance with fellow Arkham inmate, Harley Quinn, who just goes by Lee in the film. Portrayed by Lady Gaga, Lee turns out to be another woman who lies to Arthur. But that isn’t how the film ends. Instead of following down her road of delusional behavior, Arthur disconnects himself from the Joker persona only to meet a grisly end by the film’s conclusion.

Who is Young Inmate in Joker 2?

After the monumental mistake of representing himself in court, Arthur goes to prison only to be brutally stabbed by another inmate. Credited only as “Young Inmate,” there are many theories surrounding this character. Phillips has been upfront about hanging up his Joker hat, but many have been wondering whether Young Inmate is the real Joker. Could Arthur Fleck only be a precursor to the famous Batman villain? And if so, is the Young Inmate the one to challenge the Dark Knight? It may be some time before these questions get answered — if ever — but viewers do know who filled the shoes of this new character.

Young Inmate is played by Connor Storrie, whose few minutes of screen time flipped the entire movie on its head. Fans going into the Joker sequel may have been under the impression that they would get another pandering and half-baked villain story. But instead of a rallying cry, Arthur Fleck goes out with a whimper. Storrie has had few credits in shorts and independent films. But a role in a film that inspires heated discourse may give the actor traction in the entertainment industry. At the very least, he got to share a climactic scene with Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix. Against all odds, the Joker sequel succeeded in keeping Batman continuity intact. This ending posits that the Joker we know from the comics may have yet to come out, leaving Matt Reeves’ The Batman safe from outside influences.

The Little Monsters have been in a serious panic. Why? Because the mother monster herself, Lady Gaga, has teased an music project, and it’s not LG7.

Gaga has always been known to deliver the full package to her fans. From full rebrands and album concepts, to show-stopping performances and the best quality of music, nobody’s doing it quite like her. But there’s a catch to her drop. While the anticipation for LG7 is red hot, in the meantime, it looks like we’ll be getting LG 6.5 first. But what’s this mysterious new era Lady Gaga wants to use to keep us fed until her next full-length LP?

What’s all the fuss about LG 6.5?

Lady Gaga has spent the last few months promoting her movie, the Joker sequel, Folie á Deux. While some rumors about new music were swirling at the same time, especially with the drop of her summer hit collab with Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile,” we’d all been led to believe that her current focus was on the movie. And while Joker 2 might be her primary focus, Lady Gaga hasn’t exactly paused on the music front either.

In the last few days, Gaga and her team have been dropping hints that something else might be on the way, and fans understandably can’t get enough of it. The first signs were Gaga’s cryptic Instagram posts over the past few days. Kicking off on Friday, Sept. 20, she started posting cryptic posters with words, assumed to be lyrics, scrawled on monochromatic backgrounds. The first two of the posts read, “I’m ready for my interview,” and “Don’t tell me what to wear,” respectively. 

The third post was when it started to get more interesting, as the posters started being accompanied by short sound snippets. On Sunday, Sept. 22, her post was a text that read, “No duct tape, no mission,” and was accompanied by a haunting acoustic guitar. Monday, Sept. 23’s post read, “Moondust gets everywhere,” with a few seconds of electric guitar, and Tuesday, Sept. 24’s post simply read, “Still not October,” with a short, rock-sounding snippet including guitar and drums.  

This was all followed more recently by the mysterious billboards that started popping up around New York and Los Angeles with “LG6.5,” or sometimes “LG six.five” plastered all over them. When asked by Entertainment Tonight about whether the Instagram posts were referencing the Joker movie, or some new music, Gaga cheekily replied: “It’s a secret.”

What about LG7?

In a cover interview with Vogue, it was revealed that Lady Gaga has a new pop album in the works. Set for a February 2025 release, the project, dubbed LG7 for now, is supposed to see its first single release this October, as revealed in an Instagram post. However, as Gaga’s recent posts seem to be linked to the mysterious LG 6.5, fans are wondering if LG7 will be pushed back, or if the two will be connected in some way. 

Fans on X, Reddit, and Instagram have started coming up with theories on what LG 6.5 is, how it is connected to LG7, and what this all means. A prevailing theory is that LG 6.5 will be a musical project relating to Joker: Folie á Deux, and probably an EP. Notably, LG7 is supposed to be a pop album, and some of the snippets that were teased in the Instagram posts lean more towards acoustic and rock. This has led many fans to theorize that LG 6.5 will not only be related to Joker but will also be a concept project, with music chronicling Harley Quinn’s character and state of mind amidst her torrid relationship with the Joker.

After months of grueling anticipation and comic book movie restlessness, we’ve finally been rewarded with the first teaser trailer to Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux. And if the seemingly endless array of thought-provoking fan theories wasn’t at an all-time high before, then it certainly looks to be that way now.

As the pulse-pounding trailer makes its rounds all across social media — with special attention focused on that Oscar-worthy final frame — comic book enthusiasts, film buffs, and devoted theorists are all chiming in on what exactly each moment depicted in the trailer actually means for the future of this standalone franchise. And with the inclusion of pop superstar Lady Gaga starring in the flick as famed baddie Harley Quinn, it should hardly come as a major surprise that the theories are practically being ushered in from all angles.

But before the much-anticipated sequel is officially released to the public this October and sets the cinematic realm ablaze in time for spooky season, let’s dive in and explore the 5 juiciest plot theories for Joker: Folie à Deux.

The movie will introduce Batman

One of the most common fan theories circulating right now is the building feeling that the Joker sequel will officially introduce Batman as the crime-fighting vigilante we all know and love. And, of course, with a young Bruce Wayne appearing in the 2019 Joker during a confrontation with Arthur Fleck, it would make perfect sense to have Joker’s most obvious nemesis appear in the long-awaited sequel. And while the duo of Joker and Batman has certainly been done to death in entertainment media, we definitely wouldn’t be opposed to seeing their dynamic in this universe.

The music happens inside Harley Quinn’s head

Based on what we’ve seen in the teaser trailer, one major theory points at Folie à Deux being depicted from Harley Quinn’s POV — with the musical aspect of the movie happening inside her head. So while Harley is slowly falling in love with Arthur / Joker, then her singing to herself about this unexpected love feels like a brilliant move. And with a gifted talent such as Lady Gaga leading the charge, the musical numbers are sure to be more dazzling than comic book lovers might have initially expected.

Arthur and Harley have a child together

Considering the sequel seemingly heavily focuses on the relationship between Joker and Harley Quinn, one of the theories that makes the most sense canon wise would be the birth of their son, Joker Jr. The revelation of Quinn being pregnant could come at any point in the movie — especially towards the end — which would undoubtedly be the perfect setup for a potential third movie down the line, and would explore the troublesome dynamic of Joker and Harley while trying to raise their son. It’s purely speculation at this point whether Joker Jr. would even be included, but the possibilities are seemingly endless right now.

There is more than one Joker

Based on subtle hints and moments in the trailer, one theory suggests that it’s incredibly possible that another Joker will take the spotlight in the sequel — becoming a copycat version of Arthur, and defying him in the process. Considering how massive Arthur Fleck’s Joker persona has become in Gotham, it wouldn’t be too surprising that there would be others out there trying to replicate his giant following. Another possibility is that Arthur meets a protégé whom he eventually coaches and turns into the Joker that we all truly know, aiding him in flipping Gotham upside down and setting his sights on an intense rivalry with Batman.

Arthur / Joker hallucinates Harley Quinn

Given the traumatic and abusive past of Arthur Fleck at the hands of his own mother and her ex-boyfriend, eagle-eyed viewers were certainly not too shocked when it was revealed in Joker that Arthur’s growing relationship with his neighbor, Sophie, was fully one-sided and imaginary. So with the sequel just a few months away, one of the most-discussed theories points at whether or not Arthur could be imagining Harley Quinn as the newest love in his complicated life. And while some moviegoers have already argued that this direction feels too obvious, others are fully convinced that Harleen Quinzel is set to be nothing but a figment of Fleck’s darkened thoughts.

2023 has emerged as a pivotal chapter in cinematic history, as it reestablished the love of theaters among movie enthusiasts after the big screens struggled due to the popularity of streaming releases following the pandemic.

Production houses spent fortunes on strategic marketing to lure audiences back to the grandeur of the multiplex, and thankfully, the efforts have bore fruit as the year saw a number of critically and commercially successful releases.

While new hits like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and the billion-dollar animated feature The Super Mario Mario Bros. Movie. marked some of the most successful releases of 2023, studios also made sure to drop a number of sequels too, a surefire avenue to reel in substantial box office gains. The tried-and-true strategy saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, John Wick: Chapter 4, Creed III, and Avatar: The Way of Water all find their way on the list of highest-grossing releases of 2023.

2024 will be another big year for cinema, as a plethora of much-anticipated sequels have already found their way to the 2024 movie calendar. From the biggest animated hits and classic stories to action-packed blockbusters, check out the best movie sequels coming out in 2024 to plan your year ahead.

10. Inside Out 2

Release Date: June 14, 2024
Director: Kelsey Mann

“Joy and the emotions are back for an all-new adventure inside Riley’s head,” Amy Poehler announced at D23 10 months ago. The innovative animated feature about the five personified emotions istering the thoughts and actions of an 11-year-old Riley left the world in awe in 2015. Now, a sequel is set to hit the big screen in 2024, exploring the inside of the now grown-up teen brain of Riley.

Inside Out 2 will now push the big puberty button on Riley and explore a new set of emotions “that live inside a young person’s brain.” The original Inside Out film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2016 and grossed a whopping $858.8 million against a budget of $175 million. June 2024 will reveal what magic can Inside Out 2 work on the audience’s brains.

9. Kung Fu Panda 4

Release Date: March 8, 2024
Director: Mike Mitchell

After three successful movies, Kung Fu Panda 4 will chronicle the clumsy kung fu fanatic panda Po, embarking on a journey to find a new Dragon Warrior while battling a new villain, the Chameleon.

Prior to Wonder Woman taking the lead in 2017, the second installment of the series, Kung Fu Panda 2, directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, had the highest global box office performance for a film directed by a solo female. However, the series continues to enjoy great acclaim as a superb Western adaptation of the wuxia subgenre.

8. Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Release Date: December 20, 2024
Director: Jeff Fowler

Despite the SAG-AFTRA strike halting production of most films, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is set to begin filming, focusing on completing the CGI scenes without actors to ensure it meets its 2024 release date. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was the highest-grossing video game film in the U.S. until The Super Mario Bros. Movie broke the record this year. Our beloved anthropomorphic hedgehog now has a chance to again reclaim its glory with the sequel.

Sonic the Hedgehog was director Jeff Fowler’s feature-length debut, and his talent worked wonders, setting the record for the biggest opening weekend for a video game film in the U.S. and Canada. Apart from the sequel, Knuckles, a spin-off series starring Elba, is also in production and scheduled to premiere on Paramount Plus this year.

7. Venom 3

Release date: July 12, 2024
Director: Kelly Marcel

The fifth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe will also hit the big screens in the summer of 2024. The currently untitled sequel to 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage will conclude the trilogy featuring Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock. The last film ended with Eddie and Venom fleeing the country for a vacation and getting transported into MCU due to Doctor Strange’s botched spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home, before being instantly retconned.

Hardy already revealed back in 2018 that he was signed on to appear in three Venom films in total. The first two have grossed over $1.3 billion at the box office collectively. Though none of the Venom SSU films have done great among critics, Venom 3 still remains one of the most anticipated sequels. 2024 will also see two more major SSU releases, including Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter.

6. Despicable Me 4

Release Date: July 3, 2024
Director: Chris Renaud

The highest-grossing animated film franchise of all-time is adding another chapter to its long-running saga. Despicable Me 4 will mark the sixth overall installment in the series, and the fourth entry in the main sequel series. The plot is currently unknown but will most likely pick up right where Despicable Me 3 left off. Dru, along with most of the Minions last stole Gru’s rocket-powered aircraft and flew away. The ending featured Gru and Lucy deciding to give them a five-minute head-start before engaging in pursuit.

Despicable Me 3 earned $1 billion worldwide and is currently the ninth highest-grossing animated film of all-time. The franchise’s first prequel, Minions, is the highest-grossing in the franchise. Despicable Me 4 will hopefully hit the billion-dollar mark and bring the total haul up to $4.5 billion next year.

5. Bad Boys 4

Release Date: June 14, 2024
Director: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah

Will Smith confirmed his return alongside Martin Lawrence to their long-running Bad Boys franchise earlier this year in February. The success of Bad Boys for Life, the third installment in the series that came 17 years after the second, prompted Sony to green light a sequel. The plot of Bad Boys 4 is currently kept under wraps, but the team has onboarded three new actors to play major roles in the film, including Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, and Rhea Seehorn.

The Bad Boys series has grossed over $840 million worldwide with the first three films. The franchise has a mixed track of critical reception, with the first having mixed reviews, the second garnering unfavorable reception, and the third gaining generally positive critic comments. It will be interesting to see what Bad Boys 4 will bring to the audience.

4. Gladiator 2

Release Date: November 22, 2024
Director: Ridley Scott

2024 will see a lot of classics returning to grace the big screens with new stories. The second highest-grossing film of 2000, the epic historical drama Gladiator will return with a sequel following the story of Lucius. Gladiator 2 will take place 15 years later, when the Praetorian Guards are in control of Rome, and an adult Lucius starts looking for the truth about his biological father.

Gladiator won five Academy Awards in 2001 including Best Picture. Given that Scott will return to direct the sequel, fans are hopeful for another Oscar-worthy story. Connie Nielsen will reprise her role as Lucilla. Djimon Hounsou and Derek Jacobi will also return from the original film as Juba and Senator Gracchus, respectively.

3. Joker: Folie à Deux

Release Date: October 4, 2024
Director: Todd Phillips

The first R-rated film to gross $1 billion will be back with another masterpiece sequel following Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker and Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn.

Joker was originally imagined as a standalone film, as director Todd Phillips stated in 2019, “The movie’s not set up to [have] a sequel. We always pitched it as one movie, and that’s it.” But it seems like the audience won this battle and will finally get a Joker 2. The original Arthur Fleck adventure remains the thir highest-grossing DC movie, and hopes are high for Folie à Deux to sur its predecessor.

2. Beetlejuice 2

Release Date: September 6, 2024
Director: Tim Burton

The 1988 fantasy horror film that grew a cult following will also make a return to the big screens 36 years later with a sequel. Beetlejuice 2 was officially announced in May 2023, with Tim Burton confirmed to return to the director’s chair, and Michael Keaton set to reprise his role as Beetlegeuse. The story will continue down the time with Lydia Deetz now grown up and married. Winona Ryder will be back as Lydia, and Jenna Ortega will play the role of her daughter.

Beetlejuice 2 will be an exciting continuation of the iconic character’s story etched in cinematic history. The original Beetlejuice was a huge box office success grossing $74.7 million from a budget of $15 million, and it also won an Academy Award for Best Makeup.

1. Deadpool 3

Release Date: May 3, 2024
Director: Shawn Levy

The first R-rated MCU movie, Deadpool 3 is one of the most anticipated sequels, fueled even further after Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman revealed the first look at their costumes from the film. Madcap is one of the possible villains for Deadpool 3, but nothing is confirmed yet. Fans will likely see surviving of the X-Force, and witness some romance between Vanessa and our beloved Wade Wilson.

Deadpool 2 grossed a worldwide total of $785.8 million in 2018, so Deadpool 3 must aim to be a billion-dollar blockbuster. If it manages to reach the milestone and beat Joker‘s $1 billion gross, it may emerge as the highest-grossing R-rated feature ever.

For many wondering about Robert De Niro‘s thoughts on various reports regarding Joker: Folie a Deux, the wait is now over. 

For context, the legendary actor portrayed the role of late-night television host Murray Franklin in the 2019 film Joker. De Niro’s character would sadly be murdered on air following a heated argument with Arthur Fleck, also known as the Joker. Joaquin Phoenix plays Fleck in the franchise. 

On May 9, during an interview with Comicbook, De Niro, who was promoting his latest project, About My Father, was asked if he had heard the reports that the Joker sequel would be a musical and if he was happy that he didn’t have to reprise his role as Franklin. The 79-year-old disclosed that he did hear about the rumors and quipped that “it’s interesting.” He stated while mentioning his former co-star Joaquin Phoenix, 

“Oh, it’s gonna segue into a musical? I read that somewhere, too, with Joaquin Phoenix too, and he’s gonna — well, who knows how they’re doing it? It’s interesting. Yeah, it’s fine.”

Although the plot for Joker: Folie a Deux has yet to be released to the general public, news outlets are claiming that the thriller will star Phoenix as the Joker and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. 

Joker: Folie a Deux will also include appearances by Zazie Beetz, who played a single mother and the Joker’s fantasized love interest Sophie Dumond in the first installment, Harry Lawtey, Brendan Gleeson, Jacob Lofland, and Catherine Keener. Production for Joker: Folie à Deux began in December 2022 and would wrap last month. At this time, no additional information surrounding the second installment has been revealed. 

Joker: Folie à Deux is set to debut in theaters on October 4, 2024. 

When you think of Todd Phillip’s slow-burning and phenomenal Joker movie from 2019, there’s likely a small handful of scenes seared into your memory that spring to the fore when it is mentioned. Perhaps it’s Arthur’s “You get what you (heck)ing deserve!” speech at the climax. Or, chances are, it’s the film’s poster moment – as the titular Joker dances his way down a set of stairs. 

Well, it looks like Joaquin Phoenix’s co-star for the sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, Lady Gaga (as Harley Quinn), will be getting her own moment to dance, and even sing her way down what looks like that same staircase, if behind-the-scenes footage from the set of the film makes its way into the final cut. Obviously, if you want your viewing experience of the film to remain untainted when it arrives in theaters, you should probably refrain from watching the below clip, or reading any further:

In the above footage, shot from a distance and likely from behind a barricade, we can see someone who looks (or at least very much sounds) like Lady Gaga singing and dancing her way down the stairs before being swarmed by police officers. We’re hypothesizing this could be some sort of fever dream sequence, as the officers don’t apprehend or even interrupt the Born This Way singer’s sequence. 

It seems like Lady Gaga will be making good use of her talent as a musician and vocalist in the Joker sequel, with this being the second instance in a matter of days of Gaga being heard singing on the set by the general public. 

Joker: Folie à Deux is shaping up to be an even more idiosyncratic comic book movie than its predecessor, which zeroed in on the Clown Prince of Crime’s origin story to award-winning effect. As that film ended, many predicted a sequel would bring Batman himself into the mix, perhaps showing a young Dark Knight at the beginning of his crimefighting career tangling with Joaquin Phoenix’s much older antagonist.

However, the second chapter will confound expectations by casting Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn and turning it into a full-blown musical, and courtesy of some slightly muffled covert video, we now have an idea of what kind of songs they’ll be singing:

The song in question certainly seems to be “We’re a Couple of Swells,” originally performed by Fred Astaire and Judy Garland in the 1948 movie Easter Parade. Written by Golden Age musical maestro Irving Berlin, the original song sees the pair as down-and-out comedy tramps fantasizing about the opulent life lived by the mega-rich.

Joker was no slouch when it came to social commentary, so we’re hoping that Folie à Deux is going to go for the jugular and see the happy couple teaming up to take Gotham’s one percenters down a peg or two. Indications are that where the opener was shown from the perspective of Arthur Fleck, the sequel will be the world as perceived by Harley Quinn’s romantic musical fantasies.

As such, we may hear many more classic Hollywood musical songs in the final product. Is it too much to hope to have Phoenix delivering a bizarre A Clockwork Orange-esque reworking of “Singin’ in the Rain?”

Joker: Folie à Deux will hit theaters on October 4, 2024.