The Joker Origin Movie, officially titled Joker wrapped filming a few days ago. Director Todd Phillips shared the update on his social media account, captioning the post by thanking the New York City crew while also reminding fans that all is not done yet. Now that principal photography is completed though, we wonder when the first trailer for the movie could drop. Before diving into guesswork though, here’s the post in context.
Phillips is undoubtedly referring to the post-production phase that lies ahead. Considering Joker is a comparatively low-budget comicbook film, to the tune of $55 million, that generally tumultous phase should be alleviated a bit. It also helps that Phillips and his crew shot a lot of Joker on the streets of New York City instead of soundstages to avoid heavy visual effects and keep the budget low, although an unintended side-effect of this move was numerous set photos showing up online, revealing the multiple looks that Joker actor Joaquin Phoenix could don in the movie.
But one of the first things that should come out of the movie’s post-production pipeline is a trailer. A full-length trailer, or even a teaser perhaps that the general moviegoing audience can view and take in as official footage and start getting excited about. Online internet and comic book fans who’ve been following the film’s development will be sold on the movie already, but if Warner Bros. wants to earn big-bucks, it’ll need to target the general audience by virtue of trailers and teasers.
Which begs the question: When will the Joker Origins Movie trailer release? When will we get a first look at this Joaquin Phoenix Joker Movie? Or any variations of the same question thereof.
We know that the movie comes out on October 4, 2019. Promotions generally begin a few months before a movie’s release. That means we’re all but guaranteed to get a trailer at next year’s San Diego Comic Con, which should take place in July 2019. That however, should be a second / final trailer to draw audiences in, given its proximity to the movie’s release date.
If Warner Bros. intends on releasing two trailers, we should get the first trailer some time between March – April. While the character of Joker is well known among the masses, Warner Bros. will still look at commencing marketing a bit early to explain to fans how this Joker movie is not part of the DCEU (that’s right) but is meant to launch a separate lineup of DC films called DC Dark or DC Black or Elseworlds or whatever name they finalize on. These will exist in their own universe, separate from the DCEU where Jared Leto plays the Joker, effectively giving us two versions of the same character.
This, us comic book audiences know, but the general audiences won’t. That’s going to take some explaining so it makes sense for Warner Bros. to kickstart marketing sometime in March. A good opportunity is releasing a trailer early in March and attach it to the showings of Captain Marvel. An even better opportunity is to have the trailer play before DC’s own Shazam
But there’s a catch. This Joker movie is R-rated, or at least aiming for an R-rating. This means for a trailer to play before the considerably kid-friendly Shazam, it’ll have to be toned down significantly, keeping the grotesque elements out. If Warner Bros. and Todd Phillips’ crew can do that, we have a timeline on our hands. If not, it’ll probably release alongside one of Warner Bros.’ more adult-oriented ventures, or perhaps not air in theaters at all.
In all likelihood, we expect the first trailer for Joker to drop sometime between March and April. Any later and they risk releasing a trailer too close to SDCC 2019, where we expect the second trailer to drop. Considering the experimental nature of the movie though, it’s possible we get three trailers for the movie, in which case a third one could arrive some time in September, announcing the sale of tickets.
Let us know what you think about these guesses, as well as your own predictions in the comments below.
Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix releases in theaters on October 4, 2019.
