Love it or hate it, the DC world is an interesting beast. No longer can I simply refer to it as the DC Extended Universe, because it’s recently been revealed that Warner Bros. will be creating films that exist outside of the DCEU. The first film set to take this bold new direction is a standalone Joker film.

This Joker film would likely feature The Hangover director Todd Phillips in at the helm and the legendary Martin Scorsese as producer (assuming talks with the studio bear fruit), and would NOT feature Jared Leto as the Clown Prince of Crime. Since this film would be an ‘80s gritty crime drama outside of the DCEU, they would be able to choose a one-off actor to play the character.

While this move from the studio definitely came out of left field — and there are plenty who wish they would just focus on making the DCEU as great as it can be — there is a whole lot of potential to be had here. But with most of the DCEU being up in the air, when can we expect the Joker movie to actually begin production?

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Variety reporter Justin Kroll has revealed via Twitter that he’s heard that the Joker script will be turned in by next week. While he didn’t clarify, we can likely assume that this is a first draft, meaning it’ll likely go through several more rewrites before it’s where the studio wants it to be. Kroll went on to say that this could bode well for the film itself, and could result in a 2018 shooting date.

It’s important to note that the last part appears to be speculation by Kroll, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s wrong. The turnaround on this script since the reveal is lightning fast, and if they’re pushing to get this done soon — giving the filmmakers full creative control — then we can also see this getting started late next year. All they’d have to do is spend the next six to eight months refining that script before transitioning into preproduction, and finally production. When all said and done, a 2019 release date could be in the cards, and could be a great jumpstart to the non-DCEU films.

What do you think about this? Do you think it bodes well for the film that a draft for the script is already almost done? Let us know down below!

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SOURCE: Justin Kroll (via Twitter)