James Gunn Gives Disappointing Update on Brightburn Sequel

At one point, some believe Brightburn could lead into its own cinematic universe, serving as the basis for a wider line of horror-inspired anti-hero tales. As it appears now, that's no longer the case; even though it was said Brightburn 2 was in some level of development last fall, James Gunn says it's no longer in the works.

Responding to a fan inquiring about the status of a Brightburn sequel, Gunn said that there are "no plans at all for this right now."

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If a sequel were to happen, it would likely introduce the characters being discussed by Michael Rooker's manic news host at the end of Brightburn, according to filmmaker David Yarovesky.

"If we were to expand the Brightburn universe in other installments and in other ways, we would probably be doing it in the exact same way," Yarovesky told Collider at the time, "in total secrecy and then drop a cinematic trailer at some point that kind of teaches you what that new direction may be."

At one point, H3—a production studio that co-owns the rights to the franchise along with Gunn—said they planned to use emerging technologies for Brightburn 2, suggesting the movie could be developed as an NFT. Since that announcement last September, no further word has been said about the project.

The film ended up grossing $33 million worldwide against a reported production budget of just $6 million. Factoring in Prints and Advertising, it's likely the film still ended up making $15M-$20M for Sony.

Brightburn is now streaming on Hulu, and available for purchase wherever movies are sold. Brightburn is directed by David Yarovesky and is written by Mark Gunn and Brian Gunn, with James Gunn, Kenneth Huang producing while Mark Gunn, Brian Gunn, Dan Clifton, Simon Hatt, and Nic Crawley are executive producing. The film stars Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones, and Meredith Hagner. 

What'd you think of Brightburn? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!