Will Smith and Joel Edgerton will star in David Ayer’s Bright, and now it looks like Netflix is about to land the rights to the film.
Netflix continues to develop amazing original content, and Bright is projected to be a huge payoff for the streaming service and everyone involved.
THR is calling this Netflix’s biggest movie deal so far, though it hasn’t quite been set in stone just yet. The company has won the bidding war for the movie rights, but details are still being worked out. Considering Netflix’s track record, however, it’d be surprising if this didn’t work out for the best between the parties.
Bright will star Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, a human cop and an Orc, respectively. Smith’s character will be part of a division of the police force that handles magical crimes, and he’ll have to work with Edgerton’s character to locate a powerful wand before it falls into the wrong hands.
After their time together on Suicide Squad, David Ayer will return to Smith’s side as the director of the project. Chronicle’s Max Landis has written the script.
The film is said to have an $80-100 million budget, which means they’re looking to make this a high quality production.
With the addition of Marvel’s Daredevil and Jessica Jones, which have both made huge waves in their initial runs, Netflix has proven it can handle larger properties and deliver a quality product with mass appeal. Idris Elba’s Beasts of No Nation was certainly another large project Netflix has provided to its audiences.
Following Suicide Squad’s projected success, Bright could end up being a huge win for Netflix. On the other hand, they’ll have to deal with what they’ve always struggled to do, which is getting their content to a wider audience. As a paid service, their audience is somewhat restricted.