What if Superman had turned out to be evil? That was the idea explored by director David Yarovesky’s super-powered horror film Brightburn, which was released back in 2019. Even though the movie made under $33 million at the global box office, the budget was low enough (somewhere in the range of 6 to 12 million) that producer James Gunn said they were talking about a sequel just a couple months after the film reached screens. Then we went a long time with no mentions of Brightburn 2 – until production company The H Collective, which was also behind Brightburn, confirmed that a sequel was in development last September. Things got confusing last month when Gunn took to Threads to say there are “no plans at all” for a Brightburn 2 right now… but Gunn has cleared up some of the confusion by revealing that a sequel is unlikely due to a complicated rights situation.
Gunn wrote (again on Threads), “We talked about it early on. But the rights are all f*cked up (I only own half) so it’s unlikely that it will ever happen.” Gunn didn’t say who owns the other half of the rights. We could assume that The H Collective owns the other half… but if that’s the case, why wouldn’t Gunn want to work with them to get a sequel off the ground? We know a bit more now, but there’s still plenty of confusion surrounding this situation.
Scripted by Gunn’s brother Brian Gunn and cousin Mark Gunn, Brightburn has the following synopsis: A couple’s prayers are seemingly answered when an object crash-lands on Earth, carrying a life-form that looks like a baby boy. As the years pass and the alien grows older, it starts to use its mysterious powers in sinister and destructive ways.
James Gunn’s Slither star Elizabeth Banks was also the star of this one, and was joined in the cast by David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones, Steve Agee, Becky Wahlstrom, Stephen Blackehart, and Meredith Hagner.
The H Collective’s Brightburn 2 plans were revealed in announcement that they’re launching a new label called H3 Entertainment, which “intends to incorporate new technology into the production process of projects it has in development, including a sequel to horror movie Brightburn.” The new technology in question being AI, Metaverse, and Web3.
Are you hoping the rights issues will be worked out so Brightburn 2 can make it into production? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.