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The Joker is back, and this time he’s bringing a friend.

Lady Gaga is in early talks to star opposite Joaquin Phoenix in director Todd Phillips’ sequel to Joker, the 2019 Oscar-winning, $1 billion Warner Bros. hit based on the DC character.

Phillips has been co-writing the script with Joker co-writer Scott Silver for some time and has finally shown it to the studio. Last week, Phillips revealed on social media the title of the new project — Joker: Folie à deux — the title referencing a medical term for an identical or similar mental disorder that affects two or more individuals, usually members of the same family. And while the same social media post showed Phoenix reading the script, the actor’s involvement is not exactly a legal fait accompli just yet — sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Warners has yet to close a deal with the actor, with the two sides deep into it.

Enter Gaga.

Details on her character are being kept under wraps, but Joker is known for his on-off abusive relationship with Harley Quinn, his psychiatrist at the mental institution known as Arkham Asylum who falls in love with him and becomes his sidekick and partner in crime. It is unclear whether Phillips and company are using other DC characters or striking on their own, as they did in many instances with their first movie.

If a deal is made, Gaga would play Quinn. However, this new Quinn exists in a different DC universe than Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, who most recently appeared in 2021’s The Suicide Squad as well as several other films.

But wait, that’s not all: Sources say the sequel is also a musical.

When Warners first made Joker, it was far from a sure thing. A dark and moody character piece, the project was a Taxi Driver-meets-King of Comedy descent into madness set in a late 1970s decaying city. Commercial prospects were deemed nominal, and it was only budgeted at $60 million.

By the time it was released in October 2019, Joker was riding a wave of adulation from the fall film festivals, which helped propel the movie into a record-breaking opening weekend, with box office analysts changing their prediction every day. It ended its theatrical run as the No. 4 highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. It then earned 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture, and won best actor (for Phoenix) and best score (for Hildur Guonadottir).

Phillips previously produced A Star Is Born, the 2018 remake that starred Joker producer Bradley Cooper and Gaga.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

Halsey covers Kate Bush’s surging hit ‘Running Up That Hill’, Jack Harlow gets everyone hyped, Kid Cudi premieres ‘Do What I Want’ and Roddy Ricch gets arrested, here’s everything that happened at New York’s Governors Ball.

Anti Social Producers Club, described as an “underground collective of music producers,” will host its second annual Anti Social Camp in New York City from Monday through Friday (June 13 to 17) in an effort to help rejuvenate the city’s music scene.

“We created Anti Social Producers Club to build community and remind the music industry that there is still a wealth of talent here in New York,” Anti Social Producers Club founder Danny Ross said in a statement. “Anti Social Camp is not only the biggest songwriting camp in recent memory — with 150 signed artists creating 100 songs in 3 days — but it’s a vehicle to reinvigorate the NYC music scene. Thank you to our partners for building this historic event with us. For all those who believe that the music industry has completely shifted to L.A. over the last decade, I have one message — New York is back.”

The camp will see 150 signed artists, producers and writers creating 100 new tracks in three days “with the goal of putting the NYC music scene back on the map,” according to a press release, through sessions taking place both in-person and over Zoom. Notable artists and guests taking part in the camp and its various events include GAYLE, Walk The Moon, Rostam, JP Saxe, Rob Thomas, Linda Perry, NoMBe, Wolftyla, Ant Saunders, Sammy Adams, VÉRITÉ, Tim Atlas, KiNG MALA, Sadie Jean, Madison McFerrin, Annika Wells and Andrea Russett.

Alongside its official distribution partner Amuse, over the course of the week the camp will also host events including a gala at Great Jones Distilling Co. presented by the Recording Academy’s New York Chapter; an industry showcase supported by Spotify Noteable; a “Women Running Music” panel with partners including She Is the Music and Beats by Girlz; an industry day that includes sessions on the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), Chartmetric and Sound Royalties; a Dolby Atmos experiential presentation; and more.

Other companies and organizations partnering for the week-long event include the New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), BMI, Twitch, oeksound, Avid Technologies, Hipgnosis Songs, ABKCO, Spitfire Audio, Milk and Honey, SSL, Music Publishers of Canada, Songtrust, D’Angelico Guitars and Bronx Brewery.

The camp and its events are free for the musicians. You can find the full itinerary here.

A man once briefly married to Britney Spears was charged Monday (June 13) with felony stalking after showing up at the pop star’s wedding to longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari.

Jason Alexander, 40, pleaded not guilty in Ventura County court to the charge, along with misdemeanor counts of trespassing, vandalism and battery.

Alexander remained jailed, and appeared in court via video conference. A judge set his bail at $100,000 and issued a restraining order requiring him to stay at least 100 yards from Spears for three years.

Alexander was Spears’ first husband. The two were married for less than three days in 2004 before an annulment.

Spears, 40, and Asghari, 28, were married Thursday at her home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., in front of several dozen guests including Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton and Madonna.

Alexander, who was a childhood friend of Spears, was streaming live on Instagram when he approached her house. He appeared in a mostly empty but decorated room, telling security Spears had invited him.

Deputies responding to a trespassing call detained him, and he was arrested when they learned he had a warrant for his arrest in another county, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said.

Alexander’s bail will be reviewed at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. An email seeking comment from his public defender Matthew Terry was not immediately returned.

Spears was previously married from 2004 to 2007 to Kevin Federline, with whom she shares two sons, ages 14 and 15.

She met Asghari in 2016 on the set of the video for her song “Slumber Party.”

Their wedding came nine months after Spears and Asghari were engaged, and nearly seven months after Spears won her freedom from a court conservatorship that controlled her life and affairs for more than 12 years.

Spears posted about the nuptials on her Instagram and Twitter accounts the following day.

“Wow !!! Holy holy crap !!! WE DID IT !!! WE GOT MARRIED !!! Gggggeeeeezzzzz !!! It was the most spectacular day !!!” Spears said in the posts along with a picture of her and Asghari from the wedding. “The ceremony was a dream and the party was even better !!!”

Music and other entertainment stocks fell sharply on Monday (June 13), following a string of worrisome events and expectations the Federal Reserve will make a substantial rate hike to slow inflation. The S&P 500 declined 3.9%, putting the index in bear market territory — down more than 20% from its high in January. The Nasdaq declined 4.7%.

Radio broadcaster Cumulus Media fell 20.3% to $9.17, the largest decline of any music-related stock on Monday. Cumulus is “thinly traded and has high leverage,” Noble Capital Markets’ Michael Kupinsky tells Billboard in an email response. “Both are issues when [the stock is] out of favor and the market has its sights on an economic downturn.”

Radio stocks had the worst day among music-related companies on Monday as four leading companies’ stocks dropped an average of 13.2%. iHeartMedia dropped 13.2% while Audacy and Townsquare Media fell 10.4% and 8.5%, respectively.

On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported its consumer price index had risen 8.6% in May from the prior-year period — the highest mark in 40 years. That led to some expectations the Fed would opt for a larger rate increase than was expected last week.

A cryptocurrency rout helped set the stage for a gloomy Monday as Bitcoin fell below $23,000 — its lowest level since December 2020 and nearly 67% below its all-time high of $68,906.48 set in November. Ethereum, the blockchain many NFTs are created on, dropped 75.6% below its all-time high — also set in November. As a result, shares of Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, fell 11.4% to an all-time low on Monday.

Music assets are generally believed to be relatively safe investments because they are counter-cyclical to the prevailing market. In other words, recording and publishing catalogs aren’t affected by macroeconomic forces in the same way other assets will be. People will likely keep their music subscriptions even as they pare back other spending. That could explain why major record labels and music publishers fared relatively well. Shares of Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group fell 4.1% and 5.0%, respectively. Sony Corp, owner of Sony Music Group, dropped 4.7%. Two smaller music owners, Reservoir Media and Believe S.A., fell 8.5% and 7.2%, respectively.

Even during a recession, consumers are likely to keep their music subscription services. As a result, streaming companies that generate most of their revenue from recurring monthly subscription fees could be less exposed to a downturn. Four on-demand music streaming stocks posted an average decline of just 1.8%. Spotify dropped 3.5% and Tencent Media Entertainment fell 2.5%. Anghami’s declined by 6.2%, but a 4.9% increase by Chinese company Cloud Village helped balance out the average.

 

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