The Joker origin movie starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Batman villain has a release date and title
- The Joker origin movie about Batman's famous foe has a title and release date.
- Warner Bros. greenlit the Todd Phillips-directed origin movie last week after Joaquin Phoenix agreed to step into the role.
- It will have a $55 million budget, small compared to other superhero blockbusters.
- It starts shooting in September in New York.
The Joker origin movie has a title and release date, and it's coming very soon.
Warner Bros. announced the movie will come to theaters October 4, 2019, and will be called simply "Joker."
The studio announced last week that Joaquin Phoenix finalized a deal to star in the movie, directed by "The Hangover" director Todd Phillips. Variety originally reported in February that Phoenix was in talks for the role.
Phoenix has big shoes to fill. Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger - who won an Oscar for his take in "The Dark Knight" - are among the many actors to bring the character to life. The last to do so was Jared Leto in 2016 in "Suicide Squad" to less-than-stellar reviews. (But that hasn't stopped Warner Bros. from considering yet another Joker movie featuring Leto's version.)
Leto fans will have to wait, though. Phoenix's film is obviously getting fast-tracked and reportedly has a $55 million budget and will start filming in September in New York.
That's a small budget compared to other superhero blockbusters, but the studio intends for this movie to be more of a "gritty character study" than a standard superhero flick. Martin Scorsese was once even attached to produce, and Warner Bros. was eyeing his frequent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio for the role.
It's part of Warner Bros.' strategy of focusing on self-contained movies rather than its cinematic universe, which hit a brick wall when "Justice League" bombed critically and commercially last year. Apart from the Joker movie, Warner Bros. also has "Aquaman" coming later this year, "Shazam!" and "Wonder Woman 1984" next year, and a slew of other projects reportedly in development.