It’s official – Bright is getting a sequel.
It may have been critically-panned, but it looks as though Bright has just landed itself a Netflix sequel… and I can’t help thinking that’s a wise move from the online streaming service.
After all, it’s proving to be their most popular movie… even after those scathing reviews.
“Today Netflix confirmed that they will make a sequel to Bright,” reads the official press release. “David Ayer, Will Smith and Joel Edgerton are expected to return.”
Interestingly, it looks as though Bright writer Max Landis won’t be returning, with the sequel’s script said to be written by director, David Ayer. Considering that a lot of the film’s criticisms fall firmly upon the script, perhaps it’s no surprise that Landis won’t be back.
Bright stars Will Smith as a regular beat cop alongside Joel Edgerton as his orc partner. That’s right – the film exists in an alternate universe where magic and fantasy creatures are real… and Bright certainly doesn’t shy away from trying something new.
But the critics didn’t exactly love the concept.
And it was even described by one particularly ardent critic as the ‘worst movie ever made’.
“There’s boring, there’s bad, and then there’s ‘Bright’,” said IndieWire critic David Ehrlich. “From the director of ‘Suicide Squad’ and the writer of ‘Victor Frankenstein’ comes a fresh slice of hell that somehow represents new lows for them both – a dull and painfully derivative ordeal that often feels like it was made just to put those earlier misfires into perspective.”
Still, audiences seem to have loved it…
At the very least, they’re watching it.
Netflix is proud to announce that Bright is currently the highest viewed Netflix film ever on the service within its first week of release. It’s also one of the biggest Netflix originals they have ever launched.
“Bright is the #1 movie on Netflix in every country (190+ countries) since its release with more people viewing the film internationally than domestically.”
Does this mean there’s enough demand for a Bright sequel?
Either way, I have to applaud Netflix for taking a big-budget gamble on this one. It’s increasingly rare that we find studios gambling blockbuster budgets on original concepts.
And that’s definitely something we can get behind.
Bright stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, as well as Noomi Rapace, Lucy Fry, Edgar Ramirez, Margaret Cho, and Ike Barinholtz.
David Ayer directed the movie, based on a script by Max Landis.
Bright heads to Netflix on 22 December 2017.
