(AllHipHop News) Will Smith is reportedly set to return for a sequel to his new Netflix movie “Bright,” making it the first blockbuster film franchise from a streaming service.
The fantasy buddy cop action-comedy stars Will as a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer forced to partner with a mystical orc, played by Joel Edgerton, to hunt down a nuclear weapon everyone is prepared to kill for.
Bright, which was made on a $90 million budget, launches online and in select theaters today (December 22), and although it’s been savaged by critics, Netflix officials have already ordered a follow-up with Will onboard, according to Bloomberg.com.
It’s not yet known if Edgerton or director David Ayer will also be involved, but the filmmaker has embraced critics’ negative reviews, declaring on Twitter, “Highest compliment is a strong reaction either way.”
Acknowledging that his work often splits opinion, the “Suicide Squad” director continued, “Every movie is a labor of love for me. I’ve never chased the audience, and I know my work can be polarizing. I’ve lived a crazy love and I guess my movies reflect that.”
Even Will is the first to admit the concept for “Bright” is an odd one.
During a pre-taped appearance on Britain’s “The Graham Norton Show,” which airs on Friday night, he said, “It’s really a fun and bizarre action movie. It takes some time to get your head around.”
“It’s ‘Training Day’ meets ‘Lord of the Rings’…,” the “Men In Black” star added to U.S. breakfast show “Good Morning America.”
“If you imagine the creatures from ‘Lord of the Rings’, imagine that was 4,000 years ago, but then all of those creatures came forward into modern day, and now we’re in modern day Los Angeles, but there’s orcs.”
Both Will and Joel were also drawn to the film because of its social commentary.
“In the movie, I’m a black police officer, but my character’s racist against orcs. It’s sort of a flip of social hierarchy,” Will explained, as Joel added, “It’s a fairytale that allows you to talk about stuff that we don’t like to talk about or don’t talk about enough, in terms of how we treat other people in society.”
“We just have to treat each other a little bit nicer,” Will concluded.
