The Joker origin movie is still happening and it looks like the DC flick is set to begin filming this fall. We first reported of the project in August of last year, which comes from The Hangover director Todd Phillips and has Martin Scorsese on board as a producer. The movie has been coming together behind the scenes at Warner Bros. and it appears as though we're close to cameras rolling with Joaquin Phoenix reportedly on board to portray the Clown Prince of Crime.

This particular movie will be taking place outside of the already-established continuity of the current DCEU movies. It will exist in its own universe and Warner Bros. is set to launch an alternate production banner for this Joker origin movie and future projects like it. According to a new report, the title of that banner could be either DC Dark or DC Black. Whatever the name ends up being, this will likely be the first movie launched under the label and could give filmmakers a chance to try some bold things in the DC universe that won't be burdened down by complex franchise continuity.

Another detail revealed in this new report is that the Joker origin movie, which doesn't have an official title just yet, will have a much smaller budget than your average comic book movie. The project will carry a budget of around $55 million, which means it's going to be much smaller in scope and won't have a lot of mass-scale destruction and action that often comes with a DC movie or something of the like. That means Warner Bros. is risking less with this and, if it goes well, could yield a higher reward.

Official details on the project are very scarce currently but we previously reported that both the comic book The Killing Joke and Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy will be big influences on the story. The Joker's backstory is something that has been left intentionally vague in the world of DC comics and it's certainly something that hasn't been explored in great detail on the big screen. The idea of him being a failed comedian makes sense, but something like this really runs the risk of destroying some of the mystique surrounding the character.

Walter Hamada, who took over as president of DC Films in January, has been trying to sort out the "s***show" he walked into. That means axing some projects, giving others priority and developing new ones. Not only is this origin movie happening, but a Joker solo movie starring Jared Leto is also still in the cards. Here's hoping that Hamada can be the guy to get the DC universe in order and bring us the movies fans deserve to see. The Joker origin movie does not currently have a release date, but we'll be sure to keep you up to date as more details are made available. This news comes to us courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.