Joker and Harley Quinn movie coming from Crazy Stupid Love directors

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Warner Bros. seems to be putting a lot of eggs in their Joker basket, as it was only two days ago that it was announced that the studio would be making a standalone Joker origin movie with THE HANGOVER’s Todd Phillips and an up-and-comer named Martin Scorsese producing. Now they're bringing another tale about the Clown Prince of Crime to the screen, but in this one, he will have his beloved – Harley Quinn – standing right there with him.

THR got the exclusive last night that WB is planning on doing a film centered on The Joker and Harley Quinn with CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE’s and THIS IS US’ Glenn Ficarra and John Requa directing. The movie will reunite stars Jared Leto and Margot Robbie for the film in what is being described by an insider as "an insane and twisted love story. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY on Benzedrine." I’m sure Rob Reiner would be flattered.

The movie will apparently be filmed after SUICIDE SQUAD 2 is done shooting, which is on the fast-track, as WB is having to make use of characters to quickly contend with the actors’ holding contract – as the actors cannot simply wait around all their lives and wait for their characters to be used again. Given the news that WB is planning for their JOKER movie – as well as their standalone BATMAN movie with Ben Affleck – to exist outside of the DCEU, it’s worth nothing the JOKER/HARLEY will exist inside the main universe alongside films like WONDER WOMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE, etc.

This onslaught of news in regards to WB’s new movies comes as the studio intends to make some shifts in how they release their movies in relation to the overall DCEU – their interconnected networks of superhero movies. Word is they wish for their universe to have a sort of main thread, with movies like AQUAMAN, SUICIDE SQUAD and more all existing on the same time plane, while also having movies come out (JOKER, BATMAN) that act as spinoffs that exist outside the thread, acting as their own standalone stories. This is much like Disney is doing with STAR WARS, having their main “EPISODES” while then doing some sort of standalone movie, like a HAN SOLO origin tale.

Fans, myself included, don’t seem to mind this plan for standalone films existing alongside those inside the main DCEU. There are so many rich characters and storylines that don’t necessarily need to link up any sort of grand main tale. It’s a good strategy, and seeing how it plays out will be interesting. As for the JOKER/QUINN news, I think there’s a lot of history between the two characters that's ripe for exploring, but WB seems to be leaning too heavily on The Joker as a character. He works best when going up against Batman, so seeing him on his own simply isn’t as engaging. Too much exposure is not a good look on bad guys. But it seems WB believes Joker has enough moneymak – er, I mean – storytelling ability all on his own.

The next DCEU movie, JUSTICE LEAGUE, arrives November 17.