Will The BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE Animated Film Be Rated R? Plus Joker Concept Art
One of the film projects I'm most excited about seeing this year is DC Entertainment's animated adaptation of Batman: The Killing Joke. The movie will be based on Alan Moore's comic, which is one of the darkest Batman stories ever told. It's so dark that the movie might get slapped with an R-rating. A few months ago, producer James Tucker revealed that Warner Bros. gave them permission to make an R-rated animated film. Due to the subject matter of the comic, it seems like it would be hard not to get that kind of rating. It didn't mean the movie would be rated R, though. This is crazy story follows The Joker as he escapes from Arkham Asylum and shoots Barbara Gordon, paralyzing her in order to terrorize her father, Jim Gordon.
Now concept artist Phil Bourassa, who has worked on several DC animated projects over the years, released some concept art he created of The Joker for a previous attempt to adapt this story with Bruce Timm at the helm. The artwork came along with a message that seems to suggest that Batman: The Killing Joke could actually have that R-rating.
"In 2009 I started working on an animated adaptation of The Killing Joke under the supervision of legendary Animation artist Bruce Timm. Two weeks into the project we were told to stop development because The Watchmen had underperformed at the box office and WB had lost faith in R rated superhero movies. Happy to say that you guys are gonna finally get your animated Killing Joke adaptation in 2016. Apparently enough money has been made from superhero movies and adaptations of comics of every stripe that it now transcends the previously assumed limitations of the genre. It's a good time to be a comic geek!"
This tells me that back in 2009 they were working on an R-rated version of this story, and that now that same R-rated vision is being brought to life without limitations. Here's a description of the comic for those of you who need a refresher:
According to the grinning engine of madness and mayhem known as The Joker, that's all that separates the sane from the psychotic. Freed once again from the confines of Arkham Asylum, he's out to prove his deranged point. And he's going to use Gotham City's top cop, Commissioner Jim Gordon, and his brilliant and beautiful daughter Barbara to do it.
Now Batman must race to stop his archnemesis before his reign of terror claims two of the Dark Knight's closest friends. Can he finally put an end to the cycle of bloodlust and lunacy that links these two iconic foes before it leads to its fatal conclusion? And as the horrifying origin of the Clown Prince of Crime is finally revealed, will the thin line that separates Batman's nobility and The Joker's insanity snap once and for all?
Batman: The Killing Joke is set to premiere at San Diego Comic-Con, and there has been a lot of talk about Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their roles as Batman and Joker in it. There's still no official confirmation of that from the studio, but I really hope it's true!