Netflix's urban fantasy Bright has been a movie that has generated a number of very different opinions, but it seems that the positive reception from the audience has been enough to bring about a sequel. Following a report that Netflix had green-lit a follow-up to Bright, today the streaming service confirmed that a sequel was on the way, with the majority of the original film's major players coming back for part two.
According to Netflix, Bright 2 will see the return of director David Ayer and producers Eric Newman and Bryan Unkeless. Stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton are "expected to return" which likely means that while deals to bring them back have not been finalized, they are close enough to being done that announcing it here isn't premature.
Interestingly, the one major change between Bright and its follow-up comes in the form of its writer. David Ayer will pen the script for Bright 2 in addition to his directing duties. The first film was written by Max Landis.
The first Bright certainly gave itself plenty of room to make a sequel. The film is an urban fantasy that looks almost exactly like our own world, with the exception that the world is inhabited by orcs and fairies and elves and magic is a real thing. The first Bright did some pretty interesting world-building, though some of it was a bit heavy-handed. The film also set up Will Smith's character as a human with unique abilities, which certainly could be explored in a sequel. With the expectation that both Will Smith and Joel Edgerton will be back, it would appear that the plan is to bring back the general "buddy cop" feel of the first film, rather than to explore another part of the same universe.
The original Bright is an interesting movie due to the wider than usual discrepancy between critic and audience opinions. Critics seem to have really hated the film, while the general audience loves it. The latter fact shows that there will certainly be an interest in Bright 2 from a viewer standpoint. Perhaps the change in screenwriter was made in an attempt to deal the former issue. Some critics thought that the premise of Bright was solid, but that the story itself simply didn't work. Putting a new writer to work in the same world may have the benefit of putting a different spin on the existing film universe.
No timeline is given for when we'll actually see Bright 2. Unless David Ayer has been working on the script already, the film is likely just getting underway, meaning we're a couple of years away more than likely.
