In March of 2016, Netflix announced that they picked up Will Smith and his Suicide Squad director David Ayer's new film Bright, which got made for a reported $90 million. The film is set in a Los Angeles where humans live alongside magical creatures including orcs, elves, and fairies. Will Smith and Joel Edgerton play cops, one human, the other orc (respectively), and they need to protect a wand from getting into the wrong hands.
The film, which feels like a Will Smith blockbuster, will hit Netflix as well as select theaters on Dec. 22, but it looks like the streaming service is trying to ride the train into the stratosphere with this one. Bloomberg is reporting that Netflix has already ordered a Bright sequel with Smith on board.
Business Insider points out this would mark the first streaming franchise in movie history. That's huge, in the sense that this would be the biggest dart Netflix has thrown at the traditional Hollywood model of theater-first films. Netflix has ante'd up with the Hollywood budgets, gotten A-list talent in the form of Will Smith and director David Ayer, and is looking to creep into the club.
One has to imagine that they are either a) continuing the story from the first film or b) exploring the universe that Bright established. Either way, this ride is far from over; it's now a waiting game to see if the world will respond in favor of Netflix's latest move.
