Insiders and sources revealed that Todd Phillips allegedly didn’t take David Zaslav’s feedback while making Joker: Folie à Deux and that wasn’t good

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Overconfidence is often the first stage of failure. No, we are not going to dive into a philosophical session (yet). However, Todd Phillips’ near-perfect plan for Joker: Folie à Deux became a near-perfect disaster.

Joaquin Phoenix in a still from Joker: Folie à Deux | Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures

With terrible ratings, negative reviews, curses, and, memes, the world welcomed the return of Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck. Well, we are no expert in this but perhaps Todd Phillips could have paid attention to the feedback from David Zaslav.

Todd Phillips Should Have Listened To David Zaslav

It was the year 2022 when the production of Joker: Folie à Deux started. 2022 was an important year for DC Studios. David Zaslav took over things for a while until Zack Snyder’s removal was taking effect.

Todd Phillips | Credits: Thierry Sollerot via Wikimedia Commons

It was also the year when James Gunn and Peter Safran were announced to be the co-head of the DC Studios. With Joker: Folie à Deux, fans thought that Gunn would give his feedback on the content that was being made.

Much to the surprise (and dismay) of the world, Phillips allegedly chose to ignore some very sound advice that Zaslav had for him. According to a report by Variety, David Zaslav allegedly gave advice to Phillips about the production of the film.

Sources state that Zaslav and Phillips had a one-on-one where Zaslav suggested that they could shoot the film in London instead of Los Angeles. According to the finances, the production value would have decreased by 20% with Zaslav’s idea. However, Todd Phillips was allegedly so sure that he chose to make the film in Los Angeles. The budget… didn’t change.

As if that wasn’t enough, another source close to the whole story revealed what fans had been speculating about Joker: Folie à Deux, and Joker became famous because it was the Joker IP, not the movie!

Source Claims Joker Would Have Failed If Not For The Joker IP!

It seems that sources who were involved in all the dealings that took place between David Zaslav and Todd Phillips knew all the ins and outs. The alleged report confirmed something that fans had been fearing since the release of the 2019 film.

Take off the make-up and the clothes and you don’t have a Joker story | Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures

The character of Joker is not a simple character. It’s a legacy IP that makes theaters go full and the box office go boom. When you remove the purple suit and the make-up on Joaquin Phoenix’s face in Joker, the story wouldn’t be about the Joker.

It would be about a disillusioned man who gets tired of society. That’s what fans had been clamoring about Todd Phillips simply used the Joker IP to earn a billion dollars at the global box office. According to a source, the earnings wouldn’t have been possible without their IP.

If the first movie was about some down-on-his-luck, mentally ill guy in a downtrodden city, it makes maybe $150 [million] worldwide. Not a billion. People showed up because that guy was Joker.

And we can’t help but agree with what the insider had to say. Remove the mask and the funny-looking dress and you have the story of a mentally ill person in a corrupt world.

Joker: Folie à Deux received a rating of 5.3/10 on IMDB and a record-low of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. The sequel is, unfortunately, one of the worst disasters in Hollywood. Joker: Folie à Deux is currently screening in theaters across the world.