760 SHARES Facebook Twitter

We’ll be repeating it all day: the DCEU is changing. After some major shakeups in the last two weeks—Geoff Johns is out as Chief Creative Officer— Walter Hamada, known for “The Conjuring” universe, has been named the president of DC Entertainment-based film. Evidently, Warner Bros. wanted someone with a cinematic universe that actually works.

READ MORE: Matt Reeves’ ‘Batman’ Films Will Focus On A Younger Caped Crusader Without Ben Affleck

“He walked into a shitshow, and he’s trying to clean it up,” an insider told THR this week. Indeed, after the colossal failure of “Justice League”—the lowest grossing film in the DCEU franchise— Hamada has lots of work to do to get this series on track.

So a new plan is forming: Step one, make a Batman film without Ben Affleck directed Matt Reeves (the ‘Planet Of The Apes‘ series), make the character younger and set it outside the current DC films continuity. Step two: make a fun, entertaining, “Back To The Future“-like Flash film. Lastly, keep going forward with your first of two Joker films.

READ MORE: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ First Look: Chris Pine Is Back And We Have So Many Questions

Yep, despite a new Joker film in development with original new Clown Prince Of Crime, Jared Leto—got that?— DC Films/WB is doubling down on the idea of parallel DC universes. One will feature the characters and actors you already know, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, etc. and the other that looks like it may be launched under a new label that could be branded with a name like “DC Dark” or “DC Black.”

READ MORE: Geoff Johns Stepping Down As DC Films Exec And Instead Will Write ‘Green Lantern Corps’

This would be the, seemingly, darker, more adult version of the DC characters and films you know and the first one would be Todd Phillips‘ (“The Hangover” series) version of a Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix and exec-produced by Martin Scorsese (though his name seems to be missing from recent reports, so perhaps his involvement is distant at best).

So today’s update: yes, Todd Phillips’ film is still moving forward and it looks like it will shoot in the fall. Perhaps more importantly, despite acting evasive in every interview, it appears that Joaquin Phoenix will star in the film. Lastly, this Phillips-helmed Joker film will reportedly feature a budget of about $55 million, a fraction of most superhero pics and well under “moderately budgeted” genre films like “Logan” and “Alien Covenant” (both around the $90 million range).

So perhaps DC is aiming for something much more character driven and less VFX, set piece and action driven.

WB/DC Films, unlike Marvel, seems to have no qualms about franchise and branding confusion. That company seems to have no problem with a Flash on TV and a Flash in the movies and obviously seems happy to go forward with Supergirl and parallel stories and characters that aren’t in the movies. Whether the strategy will pay off on the big screen—two Jokers, two Batmans, etc.—remains to be seen, but the company has a lot of work to do before they can earn the goodwill of the general public back.

For every “Wonder Woman” step forward, there always seems to be a three-steps back film to follow it like “Justice League.”

Lastly, THR says “Hamada and his boss Toby Emmerich, sources say, also are not looking to date upcoming titles in advance, something they’re convinced has bedeviled the DC movies since 2013’s ‘Man of Steel.’ “Walter has a specific design for the universe,” says one insider familiar with his thinking. “He has a plan.” A coherent strategy for the DCEU would certainly be nice.