Despite universally excoriating reviews (not least from us), David Ayer's Bright has been a massive success for Netflix. A sequel had already been much rumoured, and has now been officially greenlit. The announcement was accompanied by a teaser trailer of orcs auditioning for the movie.
If you've yet to check it out, Bright is a blend of cop drama and fantasy adventure, from the high-concept pen of screenwriter Max Landis. Will Smith and Joel Edgerton play mismatched law enforcement partners in a world where fantasy creatures co-exist uneasily with people following a war many years in the past. The story sees Smith's human officer Ward teamed with Edgerton's orc Jakoby. Ward isn't particularly thrilled with the arrangement, but is trying to make the best of it. The partners are forced to work together more closely when a seemingly random call brings them into contact with something much more dangerous: a magical relic of those past wars, a weapon that could be devastating in the wrong hands.
Noomi Rapace is an antagonist looking to use the weapon for her own ends, and Lucy Fry is an elf who has links to the threatening item. Edgar Ramirez and Ike Barinholtz are elsewhere in the cast.
The budget was reputedly at least $90m, which is unusually expensive for a Netflix feature. But the gamble paid off: Bright was the highest viewed Netflix film ever on the service in its first week of release, and their number-one movie in more than 190 countries (i.e. every country Netflix runs in).
There are no specific details yet about the potential plot of Bright 2, but Smith and Edgerton are expected to return, with Ayer this time directing and writing. We'll bring you more as we learn it.