Joker to release in India earlier than expected

Joaquin Phoenix as Joker

Why so serious? Cheer up! Joker will be releasing in India two days earlier than expected! Joaquin Phoenix-starrer Joker, which was scheduled to release on October 4, is now arriving on October 2 in India. Joker features Phoenix as Batman's archenemy. Warner Bros. India shared the news on its official Twitter handle.

"Joker Movie will now release in India on Wednesday, October 2nd, two days ahead of its initial scheduled release," the tweet read.

The new release date makes sense considering it's a national holiday in India, which is why Indian films are also releasing two days early that week, including the Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff-starrer action thriller War and the Telugu action epic Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy.

Directed by Todd Phillips Joker features a new take on the comic book character's origin story, and follows an aspiring stand-up comedian called Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) whose mental health issues escalate, ultimately leading him to a life of criminality, reported Variety.

Apart from Phoenix, the movie also features Robert De Niro, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais, and Shea Whigham.

The upcoming flick is a part of the DC Comics universe but will serve as an independent origin story and will not feature any appearances by Batman and other caped crusaders.

The film is getting early Oscar buzz after winning the Golden Lion, the Venice International Film Festival's top award. Earlier this month, Joker received an eight-minute standing ovation at its Venice Film Festival premiere for the origin story that the makers mapped out for Batman's arch-villain - Joker.

Apart from Joker, Warner Bros. has many other films in the pipeline including Margot Robbie's Birds of Prey, the sequel Wonder Woman 1984, Robert Pattinson-starrer The Batman, James Gunn-helmed reboot The Suicide Squad and the Jason Momoa-led Aquaman 2.

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