Everything We Know About The Joker Origin Movie

2. A $55million Budget And R-Rating

Though The Joker project is ostensibly another superhero movie from WB, it deviates from the rest of their other output in two key ways: budget and rating. Where blockbusters can cost anywhere from $100 million to $300 million, the untitled Joker movie is going to cost a mere $55 million, a drop in the bucket compared to what the studios usually spend.

That makes sense though, as not only is the film aiming to be a gritty drama rather than an action-focused CGI fest, but it's also courting the riskier R-Rating. Though a mature tone has proved to have no real bearing on box office numbers (and in the cases of Logan and Deadpool has even been beneficial), studios still aren't entirely convinced, and the smaller budget could be to offset that risk.

Either way, both production factors are indicative of just how daring the project is going to be. The press release itself even held a telling quote, with the movie being described as an “exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.”