Is Joker: Folie a Deux A Jukebox Musical? Answered

Much has been said over the past year regarding Joker: Folie a Deux, the sequel to the Oscar-winning Joker. Despite originally being conceived as a standalone film, Joker did well enough critically and commercially to justify a sequel, but very little is known about it, including whether or not the film is a musical. Now with the trailer out, we have a good idea of what kind of movie its sequel, Joker: Folie a Deux, is and can answer whether it is a jukebox musical or not.

Is Joker: Folie a Deux A Jukebox Musical?

Unlike a traditional musical, a jukebox musical is a musical where the majority of its songs are taken from other artists. Like a jukebox, the songs come from a variety of artists, usually held together by a particular theme. For example, the musical and Mamma Mia! film series all take songs from the band ABBA and use those songs to help craft an original story, morphing the original intent of the songs into whatever the story needs each piece to be. 

Now that we have seen the trailer for Joker: Folie a Deux, we can safely confirm that the movie will indeed be a musical. The trailer shows off a variety of stages where Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck and Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn are dancing with one another and the trailer opens up extolling the powers of music. Fleck even holds up a microphone to his lips in his complete Joker attire as musicians play around him and crowds cheer him on. Whether all of this is inside his mind is beside the point – Joker: Folie a Deux is a musical whether you like it or not. 

As for whether it’s a jukebox musical, that’s still left ambiguous. The trailer is set to a cover of Jackie DeShannon’s “What The World Needs Now,” which may very well be one of the songs performed in the movie, but the trailer gives no indication of what types of songs will be sung and performed in the film. We know that Hildur Guðnadóttir will return to score the film, but in the world of jukebox musicals, that means little. Time will tell whether this will be an original musical or not, but sign me up for some more Joker exploits. 

Joker: Folie a Deux will be released in theaters on October 4, 2024.