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In 2019, Todd Phillips' Joker became an instant pop cultural phenomenon.

Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of troubled aspiring comedian Arthur Fleck added new colours to the iconic DC character, helping Joker earn over $1 billion at the global box office, top prize at the Venice Film Festival and 11 Academy Award nominations – including a Best Actor Oscar for Phoenix.

Five years on, Phoenix is donning a new suit and returning to the streets of Gotham City, but this time he's got company, as Lady Gaga joins him in Joker: Folie À Deux.

Plot details are tightly under wraps but Arthur Fleck is institutionalised at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that's always been inside him."

The trailer, played out to a haunting version of 'What The World Needs Now Is Love', suggests a kaleidoscopic epic that broadens the scope of the first film — including magical musical numbers — while keeping the focus on fractured, compelling characters.

Joker: Folie À Deux co-stars Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Catherine Keener (Capote) while Zazie Beetz reprises her role from the first film as Arthur's neighbour Sophie Dumond.

Todd Phillips, who was Oscar-nominated for directing, writing and producing Joker, returns to the director's chair with a script co-written by fellow Oscar nominee Scott Silver.

They are joined behind the scenes by returning Joker collaborators including composer Hildur Guđnadóttir, who won an Oscar for her Joker score, cinematographer Lawrence Sher, production designer Mark Friedberg and editor Jeff Groth, plus new-to-the-team costume designer Arianne Phillips, who previously worked on Don't Worry Darling and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Together Phillips and his team have created the compelling worlds that the characters dance their way through, be it the grimy streets of Gotham or the entertainment wonderlands that Joker has always dreamed of.

Sure to be the cinematic event of the autumn, Joker: Folie À Deux combines drama and crime with music and dance to create a unique experience that will appeal to comic book fans and movie lovers alike.

Ambitious, audacious and action-packed, it's guaranteed to get audiences talking and toes tapping, with its innovative spin on one of the most beloved comic book (and film) characters of all time, an exciting sequel to one of the most successful films of recent memory that manages to innovate and up the stakes.

And remember: when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you.     Hannah Strong