Warner Bros. R-rated ‘character study’ origin film, The Joker is already on way to shatter several box office records. The DC movie is available in theaters worldwide but fans in India got to experience it a few days prior thanks to an early release. One theater, in particular, decided to give fans more than they bargained for playing a neat little tribute video – paying respect to the late Heath Ledger.

Vettri theaters in Chennai, India surprised audiences when they unexpectedly first played the Joker trailer to moviegoers during the movie’s first screening. The short trailer quickly ended but “Lastly” had another such short clip but this time it was Ledger’s version of the Joker from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

The video was a tribute to the late actor’s Oscar-winning performance portraying the clown prince of crime. The video got its much-deserved response from the audience as they can be seen going wild. The theater also screened the first teaser for Christopher Nolan directed ‘Tenet’ movie. You can check it out below.

For those unaware, The Joker movie starring Phoenix also has a tribute/nod to Ledger. But we are not going to go in detail to avoid spoiling one of the best DC titles.

It must be noted that Phoenix didn’t take influence or inspiration from Ledger’s performance and molded his very own version. Moreover, though the movie has some resemblance to DC Comics’ Killing Joke -Joker did not use any source material and rather penned an original story/script.

Phoenix’s portrayal has already been hailed by critics as Oscar-worthy since the film’s screening at Toronto International Film Festival.

Unfortunately, the film’s realistic violence and unique gritty take caused backlash with some claiming that the movie could inspire copy cat artist. But there seems to be more thought-provoking reactions like Thanos actor Josh Brolin’s recent response after watching Joker. You can find it below.

Directed by Todd Phillips, Joker is in theaters worldwide.

Wow @VettriTheatres thank you so much for the awesome JOKER tribute video at the beginning of FDFS show !!! It really sums up the spirit , enjoyed Joker very much & the clarity & Ratio of the movie perfect @jokermovie awesome pic.twitter.com/mzJw5Px5nf

— I am inevitable (@virubash) October 2, 2019

#TENET teaser – Exclusive in #RGBVettri

That BGM says it all … Super intense ! For a change it’s not Hans Zimmer but #BlackPanther fame #LudwigGöransson in the music department … Expectation meter already ticking high, only for #ChristopherNolan 💓 pic.twitter.com/Ub9LsIFZac

— Rakesh Gowthaman (@VettriTheatres) October 5, 2019

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To appreciate “Joker” I believe you have to have either gone through something traumatic in your lifetime (and I believe most of us have) or understand somewhere in your psyche what true compassion is (which usually comes from having gone through something traumatic, unfortunately). An example of dangerous compassion would be to, say, make a film made about the fragility of the human psyche, and make it so raw, so brutal, so balletic that by the time you leave the theatre you not only don’t want to hurt anything but you desperately want an answer and a solution to the violence and mental health issues that have spun out of control around us. This film makes you hurt and only in pain do we ever want to change. It’s all in the irony of trauma — a fine line between the resentment of wanting to hurt society back for raping you of a decent life, for not protecting you, and accepting what feels like alien feelings with softening to those others who seem freakish in our era of judgment, and digital damnation. Like kids in Middle School: man, they can just be mean. For no reason. And, sometimes, those awful little clicky kids breed an evil in someone that rages much later, when everyone pretends we are all back to normal, when we all thought it had just manned up and gone away. We have a habit of hating and ostracizing and dividing and sweeping our problems under the rug. Joker, is simply lifting the rug and looking underneath it. Nothing more. Nothing less. It’s there.

A post shared by Josh Brolin (@joshbrolin) on Oct 5, 2019 at 7:34am PDT