Bright was by all accounts the worst movie of 2017, and that’s exactly why we’re getting more of it. Netflix announced on Wednesday (by way of an orc casting call, naturally) that the fantasy buddy-cop movie will be returning for a sequel:
According to Deadline, Will Smith and Joel Edgerton will be back to star, and David Ayer will return to write the script and direct. Max Landis, who penned the original movie, will not be involved in the sequel.
If you haven’t seen Bright yet, let me fill you in: It’s kinda like Training Day or Bad Boys except with orcs and elves, and not-so-subtle racial allegories.
It’s bad. Like, 28 percent on Rotten Tomatoes bad; like, so bad that not even the generally cheery, optimistic Chance the Rapper could get on board. Beyond the cringe-worthy depictions of race relations, the film also boasts incomprehensible action sequences and dialogue that resembles a series of Mad Libs.
But here’s the thing: Despite the film being universally accepted as garbage, Bright was reportedly streamed a whopping 11 million times in the U.S. in its first three days, on its way to racking up the most views ever in an opening week for a Netflix original film. Those numbers talk—clearly more than Rotten Tomatoes percentages. Netflix’s decision to ignore the unanimous criticism of Bright shows how the company is prioritizing commercial success over critical success. It may still want to distribute award-worthy films like Mudbound, but views are decidedly paramount. So to all of you who watched Bright for the jokes or just to see if it was as bad as everyone said, Netflix thanks you. And now Will Smith will make another orc-cop movie.
