‘Brightburn 2’ is a Possibility, According to James Gunn

Remember Brightburn? It came out this year, and it was a surprisingly enjoyable and nasty horror-superhero hybrid. The movie didn’t exactly break the bank at the box office, but according to producer James Gunn, that doesn’t rule out a sequel. While there’s nothing official yet, Gunn revealed that there have been talks regarding Brightburn 2, which would presumably feature the further adventures of Brandon Breyer, a young sociopath who just happens to have superpowers.

I was one of the people who enjoyed Brightburn, the often-gory film that asked: “What if Superman was a psycho?” The David Yarovesky-directed film borrowed the Superman origin story almost verbatim: a child with superpowers from another planet crashes on earth and is raised by humans. The twist is that while Superman grew up to help people (unless we’re talking about Man of Steel), Brandon Breyer, the main character of Brightburn, aged into a hormonal lunatic who brutally murdered anyone who got in his way. As I wrote in my review:

Are audiences prepared for how unrelentingly dark Brightburn is? I have my doubts. The marketing has sold the film as horror, but it’s also slapped James Gunn‘s name everywhere. Gunn is a producer on the film, but anyone expecting something quirky and funny a la his Guardians of the Galaxy films is going to be in for a nasty shock. Nasty is indeed the name of the game here – Brightburn is cold and unflinching, fully committed to unsettling its audience. It’s the type of movie that will make you thank your lucky stars that superheroes don’t really exist.

Brightburn wasn’t a big hit. In fact, it wasn’t much of a hit at all. The production budget was small, but the movie still underperformed, taking in a $32.3 million total. But could there be more Brightburn in our future? Maybe. James Gunn, the producer of Brightburn, took to Instagram to address the prospect of a sequel. “I think I’m tied up for the next few years with Suicide Squad and then Guardians, but we’re talking about the sequel,” Gunn wrote (via EW).

It’s not immediately clear who Gunn is talking to with, and about, a sequel. But he easily could’ve said “There are zero plans for a sequel!”, and didn’t. His answer implies at least something has been mentioned, somewhere, about Brightburn 2. The first film is very much an origin story, so a sequel would presumably follow Brandon at a later age, in full-blown evil superhero mode. And I’m all for it.

In fact, I’d love it if Brightburn ended up spawning an entire franchise of direct-to-VOD horror films, just like the old slasher movie days. I’d watch an entire series of films set in this universe. I doubt that’ll happen anytime soon, but I can dream.

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