Produced by Guardians of the Galaxy and Superman: Legacy director James Gunn, Brightburn caught everyone's attention with its Man of Steel-inspired teaser trailers and brought something new to the superhero genre by delivering a horror movie that essentially asked, "What if Superman was evil?"
The movie was a moderate success, earning just shy of $33 million on a reported $6+ million budget. Those aren't the sort of numbers which necessarily guarantee a sequel, but Deadline reports that The H Collective/H3 Entertainment has plans to move forward with a follow-up.
According to the trade, the production company "intends to incorporate new technology into the production process of projects it has in development, including a sequel to horror movie Brightburn." That's reportedly set to include the Metaverse, Web3, and...artificial intelligence.
Utilising AI in the making of this project is a bold move, particularly when actors and writers are currently on strike to campaign against its widespread usage in Hollywood. However, the company has assured people it plans to "respect professionals and fans while promoting responsible technology integration."
H3 later added, "Incorporating new technologies into our workflow is about enhancing and complementing, not replacing the human touch in filmmaking. Our primary commitment remains with our skilled workforce. We are determined to use technology to assist, not overshadow, the irreplaceable human touch in cinema."
Nothing else has been revealed about Brightburn 2, but when we spoke to director David Yarovesky about what he'd like to see in a follow-up back in 2019, he told us, "I have a very canned answer for you on that front and by the nature of the answer I'm going to give you, telling you that it's canned is even more important."
"When we released Brightburn and when we exposed what we'd been working on to the world, it caught everyone off guard and people had that huge reaction to the trailer. I would say that if we were so fortunate to be able to make a sequel, I would like to repeat that and not tell anyone what we're working on and then surprise everyone with some crazy things that no one sees coming."
We don't know whether the filmmaker will return for Brightburn 2 or how he feels about the potential incorporation of AI technology into the pre-production process. Gunn has been sharing his hopes for a sequel since the movie was released but we're guessing he won't be heavily involved due to his DC Studios commitments.
Are you excited to see Brightburn 2 finally become a reality?