The People's Joker: DC Parody Film Gets Theatrical Release

The People's Joker, a "queer coming-of-age superhero world parody," arrives in 2024.

By Spencer Perry

After being pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival lineup just over a year ago, the DC parody movie The People's Joker has finally secured a release and will debut in theaters next year. Los Angeles-based distributor Altered Innocence has annoucned today that they've acquired North American distribution rights for Vera Drew's "queer coming-of-age superhero world parody." The People's Joker, which Drew directed, edited, co-wrote, and stars, will open April 5th at the IFC Center in New York City. Additional markets and premiere dates are set to be announced later. 

"I am absolutely thrilled and humbled that Altered Innocence is helping me bring The People's Joker to theaters this spring," Drew said in a statement about the acquisition. "This movie started as a DIY community project for queer artists and I made it with my friends to process what it was like coming out as a trans woman working in the film and TV industry. It has been a long road freeing The People's Joker and finding a release plan that rings true to the queer, anarchist spirit we had while making it. What better home than among Altered Innocence's catalog of gorgeously gay and deliciously edgy films."

What is The People's Joker?

Though seemingly in the same camp as fan films, The People's Joker is a feature-length movie described as "a queer coming of age Joker Origin story." The film's official description reads: "In the absurdist autobiographically-inspired dark comedy, a painfully unfunny aspiring clown (Vera Drew as Joker the Harlequin) grapples with her gender identity while unsuccessfully attempting to join the ranks of Gotham City's sole comedy program in a world where comedy has been outlawed. Uniting with a ragtag team of rejects and misfits, Joker the Harlequin forms an illegal anti-comedy troupe that puts her on a collision course with the devious caped crusader controlling the city."

The People's Joker cast

The cast for The People's Joker is one filled with plenty of familiar faces, playing very popular characters to boot. In addition to Vera Drew, The People's Joker cast includes cameos from Tim Heidecker, award-winning actor Bob Odenkirk, Maria Bamford (Netflix's Big Mouth), and Scott Aukerman (Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast), with Vera Drew, Lynn Downey (Amazon Prime Video's Daisy Jones & The Six), Nathan Faustyn (SADDLED), and Kane Distler, in his film debut, making up the film's core cast.  The film will feature variations on DC characters including The Penguin, Scarecrow, Riddler, Bane, and Harley Quinn, plus DC locations like Smallville and Arkham Asylum also appear.

David Liebe Hart (Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie), Griffin Kramer (Happy Times), Christian Calloway (Twin Peaks: The Return), Ember Knight (King of LA), Dan Curry (head writer for The Eric Andre Show), Cricket Arrison (Give Me Pity!), Eliot Glazer (Broad City), Sandy Honig (Adult Swim's Three Busy Debras), Alec Robbins (creator of the satirical webcomic Mr. Boop), Mia Moore Marchant (Again, Again), Phil Braun, Trevor Drinkwater, Daniella Baker, Bambi Bell, Denali Winter, Ruin Carroll, and Arden Hughes round out the complete cast of established and emerging artists and actors.  

Shot entirely on green screen, the work of over 200 independent, predominantly queer creators -artists, musicians, and animators- elevates the instantaneously illustrious feature beyond genre pastiche to an overflowing richness of mixed-media visuals across 2D, 3D, stop-motion, and more forms of animation.  

"Vera Drew has taken her own life experiences and traumas to craft an entirely new genre of cinema that blurs the lines between documentary, coming-of-age film, and parody," said Altered Innocence founder Frank Jaffe. "We couldn't be more thrilled to champion this bold, intelligent, and hilarious piece of queer cinema that audiences around the globe have fallen in love with."

Is The People's Joker illegal?

The movie is stuck in a pretty big gray area though the filmmakers argue that it fits under fair use. The title card for the trailer even denotes that "all materials used fall under fair use, protected under title 17, U.S. Code 107-118." This strategy has been employed by many over the years, and given that The People's Joker now has a release date and has already played the festival circuit this year it seems like Warner Bros. is no longer interested in trying to squash it. Of note however is the final line in the press release confirming the release date for The People's Joker, which reads: "THE PEOPLE'S JOKER is in no way created by, endorsed by, or affiliated with DC Comics or any of its related companies."

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