Netflix means business. They are a serious content provider to be reckoned with and all other major movie studios should take notice. And, if they weren't paying attention before, they certainly will be now as Netflix is making an original with Will Smith.
BRIGHT, the Max Landis spec script that Smith and director David Ayer recently came aboard, is in the process of being bought by Netflix, easily surpassing their deal with Adam Sandler to mark the company's biggest production yet.
The film, described as END OF WATCH meets ALIEN NATION, would take place in a supernatural and magical world where orcs and fairies live side-by-side with mankind. Smith would play a human cop who has to team with Joel Edgarton as an orc to find a powerful wand that creatures are being killed to secure.
The project had been shopped around Hollywood with several other studios expressing interest. However, a $80-100 million budget and a production commitment had to be part of the deal and only Netflix stepped up to accept those terms and outbid their competitors.
Will Smith is still one of the world's biggest stars and, for Netflix to land an original film with him starring, is a major shot across the bow of everyone. The way the public consumes movies has been changing for a long time, and the studios' reluctance to accept that has been a major problem with the way the Hollywood system is currently structured.
Netflix just announced its presence with authority. It's time for others to take them seriously.
David Ayer and Will Smith's latest collaboration SUICIDE SQUAD hits theaters on August 5.