Two Joker Movies??
For those that weren’t already confused by Warner Bros. and DC’s superhero movie strategy, the studio is turning things up a notch. It’s moving forward with a standalone film based around the Joker. This film will star Joaquin Phoenix as the iconic villain. The as-of-yet untitled film will be directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover, War Dogs), and will reportedly start shooting this September.
“But wait,” you may be asking yourself, “wasn’t there recently news that Jared Leto was getting his own Joker movie?” Yes, in fact, there was! But you see, this is a different Joker movie. This Joker movie will reportedly be released under a different DC label, different from the justice league. The idea is for filmmakers to be able to experiment with DC’s characters. The budget for Phillips and Phoenix’s Joker film is said to be around $55 million. This budget is far below the hundreds of millions other superhero movies have to work with. The studio is planning a quick turnaround that could land this movie in theaters as early as next year. An “exploration of a man disregarded by society,” the film is described as “not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.” Fun!
“But wait,” you may be asking yourself, “wasn’t there recently news that Jared Leto was getting his own Joker movie?” Yes, in fact, there was! But you see, this is a different Joker movie. This Joker movie will reportedly be released under a different DC label, different from the justice league. The idea is for filmmakers to be able to experiment with DC’s characters. The budget for Phillips and Phoenix’s Joker film is said to be around $55 million. This budget is far below the hundreds of millions other superhero movies have to work with. The studio is planning a quick turnaround that could land this movie in theaters as early as next year. An “exploration of a man disregarded by society,” the film is described as “not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.” Fun!
A Fresh Start
D.C. had a lot of success in the 90’s with darker films, and the Joker, is a perfect character to experiment with. Doing fresh and inventive things with characters like this is certainly interesting, and given how uneven the Warner Bros. and DC films have been thus far, some sort of rethink is welcome. Unfortunately, this new film doesn’t sound like a full-fledged pivot as much as it does the beginning of a series of add-ons. Aquaman and Wonder Woman 2 are both arriving over the next 18 months. The studio seems to ping-pong on whether Matt Reeves’ upcoming Batman film will, or won’t, be part of the broader DC cinematic continuity. All of which points to a situation that could just be downright confusing for moviegoers. Will we see multiple Jokers just years apart?
I personally like the idea of restarting, with the joker character. We will see how it plays out on the big screen in 2019.
I personally like the idea of restarting, with the joker character. We will see how it plays out on the big screen in 2019.
Roman Papanikolas
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