The streaming giant has confirmed that they're making a follow-up to the fantasy cop drama, with Smith and Edgerton as well as director David Ayer expected to return.
- Jan 4, 2018
AceShowbiz - A sequel to "Bright" is officially a go at Netflix. The streaming giant has greenlit the follow-up to the fantasy cop drama which is expected to reunite stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, along with director David Ayer. The announcement comes along with a silly "leaked" footage of Orc auditions.
According to Netflix, original screenwriter Max Landis will not return for "Bright 2". Therefore, Ayer will be taking over the scripting duties. Smith is reprising his role as an LAPD officer named Daryl Ward, while Edgerton is returning as his Orc partner, Nick Jacoby. Eric Newman and Bryan Unkeless are also returning as producers.
"Bright", which had a reported budget of $90 million and was released on December 22 last year, is considered the first Netflix blockbuster. The streaming giant has stated that it was the "highest viewed Netflix film ever on the service in its first week of release and one of the biggest originals (including sequels/additional seasons) Netflix has ever launched."
The film was largely panned by critics, though, with many calling it one of the year's worst films. The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore called it "plenty embarrassing,"and said "its potential as a franchise-starter is laughably small."
The Wrap's Todd Gilchrist said it's "astoundingly bad in virtually every way," adding, " 'Bright' shares in common several of the shortcomings of Ayer's previous film ['Suicide Squad'], including conspicuous evidence of desperate efforts to cobble its under-explained and yet somehow overcomplicated mythology into something coherent."
David Ehrlich of IndieWire described the film as "a movie so profoundly awful that Republicans will probably try to pass it into law over Christmas break," while Collider's Vinnie Mancuso called it "a shame, because the plot is actually a simple bit of fun buried beneath a heavy dose of explanation."
Peter Debrudge of Variety, however, begged to differ. He dubbed it "the best Netflix original movie to date" and wrote that the movie "fills an intense, grown-up movie niche that Hollywood once did so well, but has since replaced with formula-driven product."
