Following the success of the mighty 70mm celluloid in Oppenheimer and Dune Part Two, IMAX CEO confirms that Joker 2 (“Joker: Folie à Deux”) will also be screened in 70mm theaters. However, it was shot digitally on the ARRI ALEXA 65.

Yes, we are going to present Joker 2 in IMAX 70mm.

IMAX CEO – Richard Gelfond

Joker: Folie à Deux’s trailer broke the internet

Joker: Folie à Deux (which means “Madness for Two” in French) is an upcoming American musical thriller film directed by Todd Phillips, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. Based on DC Comics characters, the film is the sequel to Joker (2019) and stars Joaquin Phoenix, reprising his role as the Joker, and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. It is produced by Warner Bros. Principal photography began on December 10, 2022, led by DP Lawrence Sher serving as cinematographer who also shot the first Joker. Sher cited Francis Ford Coppola’s One From the Heart (1982) as a source of visual inspiration for the film. Exterior filming occurred in Los Angeles and New York by March 2023. Lady Gaga had filmed scenes with a crowd of extras demanding Joker’s arrest outside of the New York County Courthouse, which had led some people nearby to mistake it for the arrest of Donald Trump following his first indictment :-). Furthermore, Phillips emphasized that defining the movie as a musical was not exactly correct. “I like to say it’s a movie where music is an essential element,” Phillips said. “It doesn’t veer too far from the first film. Arthur has music in him. He has a grace to him”. A few days ago the trailer was released, and it broke the internet, giving Warner Bros. Its biggest and most-talked-about trailer since ‘Barbie’. Check it out below:

Shot on ARRI ALEXA 65

The film was shot by cinematographer Lawrence Sher. The camera Sher used for the Joker 2 is the ARRI ALEXA 65. As stated by ARRI Rental: “’Joker: Folie à Deux’ Lawrence Sher ASC continued with the 65 mm format on the ALEXA 65. Supplied by ARRI Rental Los Angeles”. Indeed, Sher also shot the 2019 “Joker” which was a huge success, earning over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. It is also defined as the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever at the worldwide box office. The movie also received 11 Oscar nominations with wins for Best Actor (Phoenix) and Best Original Score. As mentioned, Sher utilized the ARRI 65 paired with ARRI Rental DNA glass in the first Joker, bringing out extraordinary stunning imagery. However, this new Joker will be released in 70mm as well.

Joker 2 will be screened in 70mm

Following the success of Oppenheimer and Dune Part Two, Joker 2 will be screened in 70mm, IMAX CEO confirms. “Joker: Folie à Deux” will be shown in IMAX 70mm theaters, the company’s CEO Richard Gelfond told Business Insider at CinemaCon hours before Warner Bros. world premiered the movie’s trailer at the annual movie-theater convention in Las Vegas. “Yes, we are going to present it in IMAX 70mm,” Gelfond told BI. Nevertheless, there’s still no info regarding the IMAX 70mm theaters that will screen Joker 2. A reminder: There are only 30 theaters worldwide with 70mm screening capabilities. In Nolans’ Oppenheimer all 30 were utilized as it was shot on IMAX film cameras. However, in Dune Part Two, only 12 theaters allowed the 70mm screening, as it got lower priority since it was shot on the same camera as Joker 2, which is the ARRI ALEXA 65 – a digitally certified IMAX camera. Hence, we believe that Joker 2 will be screened only at 10-15 IMAX 70mm theaters worldwide. “Joker: Folie à Deux” opens in theaters on October 4. We’ll keep you posted as we know the list of the relevant 70mm theaters.