Originally published March 10, 2016. Updated June 30, 2023.
On the heels of The Wrap announcing that David Ayer would be shooting a sequel to Suicide Squad in 2017 following an autumn shoot for his next movie Bright, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that the fantasy movie could be picked up as a Netflix exclusive.
According to the outlet, Netflix are coming out on top in a fierce bidding war to earn the rights to the movie, which stars Will Smith as a human cop who lives in a modern fantasy world where magic meets reality. Smith’s cop is teamed up with and orc cop, played by fellow Suicide Squad co-star Joel Edgerton, find some nasty people who are after a magical wand.
Bright has been written by Max Landis (Chronicle, Victor Frankenstein).
No deal is done yet, and Bright is commanding a production budget of $80-$100 million and requires a production commitment which is putting some studios off. According to THR, one studio put down an all-in $55 million offer which was rejected.
Netflix are making big strides on their movie fronts, signing Adam Sandler to a 6-movie deal (which lead to their most watched movie in history), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, and Beats of No Nations starring Idris Elba. While the movie was touted for Academy Awards buzz, experts believe that a lack of people seeing the movie hurt their chances.
Should Netflix win the rights to Bright, there’s no word on whether the film would have theatrical distribution first before landing on the streaming service.
