‘Bright’ Sequel Canceled By Netflix As Will Smith Fallout Continues

Following the slap heard round the world, Will Smith has lost some big projects, been banned from the Academy Awards for a decade, and resigned from the Academy in disgrace. But it’s not over, and studios that may be looking to save a little bit of money are using Smith as a reason relieve themselves of potentially expensive burdens.

According to Bloomberg, Netflix has given the axe to Bright 2, the sequel to their surprising hit fantasy/cop drama starring Smith and Joel Edgerton as cops in a world shared by humans, orcs, faeries, and more. The film, which had a script by problematic writer Max Landis, was a big hit for Netflix even though critics massacred it savagely. Me, I thought it was alright and basically the same cop movie director David Ayer always makes, except with weird monsters.

Ayer was going to be replaced on the sequel by Louis Leterrier, best known for directing The Incredible Hulk and Now You See Me. Fans of this universe will have to settle for the anime spinoff Bright: Samurai Soul, which premiered last October on Netflix.

This all happens as Netflix is dealing with a raft of bad issues all at once: a loss of 200,000 subscribers, a 35% dip in stock price, and reports about its massive spending. The streamer plans to counter this with a new lower-tiered subscription package supported by ads. However, if they need to cut costs, Bright 2 is a good film to do away with. Nobody was really begging for it.

Meanwhile, Walt Disney’s National Geographic is considering a similar fate for Pole to Pole, a nature doc that would send Smith to the North and South Poles. Smith has done two prior nature docs for NatGeo, including the incredibly popular Welcome to Earth which debuted last December.

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.