After recent controversial discussions surrounding Todd Phillips’ Joker, the movie is finally here! Fans can now go out, see it, and make their own judgments about how Joaquin Phoenix’s version of the character stacks up with others. Or how the movie’s themes touching upon modern society, violence, and mental illness affect audiences. Longtime Joker voice actor Mark Hamill has shared his take. Check it:
Who knew Joker actors would be so supportive of one another! How uncharacteristic! In Mark Hamill’s tweet, he endorses Joker for “brilliantly” reimagining the character in a fresh new way. He offers his two thumbs up and shares an awesome collage of photos including the Joker poster, a sketch of the main characters in Batman: The Animated Series, and his real-life co-stars posing in another one.
Mark Hamill began voicing Joker on the cartoon in 1992 and has since continued doing voice work for the character for a variety of projects since, including Batman video game series and 2016’s Batman: The Killing Joke. Behind Heath Ledger’s Dark Knight Joker, Mark Hamill is certainly beloved as the character and words such as this may sway fans to go out and see Joker this weekend.
The Star Wars legend has shown his excitement and support for the project since the first chilling trailer dropped online earlier this year. Now that the movie is here, Mark Hamill is boosting additional words of kindness about Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips’ collaboration. So far, the movie is shaping up to be a success on all fronts.
When Joker first premiered at the Venice Film Festival, the movie earned rave reviews, some even calling it a masterpiece. As a second wave of critics viewed the film, the rating went down to its current 70% Rotten Tomatoes score – still at a comfortably Fresh score. So far, audiences have been embracing the movie as well. It currently has a 92% score with moviegoers and recieved a B+ CinemaScore opening night.
On the box office front, Joker has already broken Venom’s record for October. In 2018, the villian origin story had an impressive $10 million Thursday night numbers. However, Joker made $13.3 million on Thursday night and is heading into a potentially massive $100 million opening weekend.
Joker tells the story of Arthur Fleck, a failed comedian living in Gotham City who transforms into a violent villain after becoming disregarded by society. Aside from Joaquin Phoenix’s leading role, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Marc Maron, and Brian Tyree Henry also star. The movie is written by Todd Phillips and Scott Silver and is not connected to Warner Bros’ DCEU, but instead a character study in the vein of Taxi Driver.