Movie marketers aim to create marketing messages that elicit an emotional response from consumers, and “Joker” takes this notion to an extreme.
A new trailer projecting film violence created a real-world uproar of worries that the Warner Bros. comic book adaptation of “Joker” will trigger unbalanced people to acts of mayhem. A New York Post story (see below) quotes relatives of a 2012 shooting in a Colorado theater by a crazy person dressed up as the Joker from the Batman series that left a dozen people dead.
The U.S. Army even put out a warning. The giant Regal and AMC theater chains, and smaller Landmark circuit say they will deny entry to anyone dressed as a Joker character or with face-paint, because of fear of in-theater violence from nutjobs.
Warner Bros. responded by denying it is inciting violence. Freedom of expression is an issue here too, folks.
The backstory here is Warner Bros. is stretching to make its comic book characters from its DC Comics as successful in movies as Marvel Comics — its arch rival which Disney owns and milks for blockbuster movie adaptations. “Joker” is from DC’s Batman character tree. To create a new wrinkle, it looks like Warner’s “Joker” is less superhero and uplifting than the typical superhero adaptation.
“Joker” is scheduled to premiere Oct. 4.
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