| Brightburn | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | David Yarovesky |
| Written by | |
| Produced by | |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Michael Dallatorre |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Tim Williams[1] |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing (underScreen Gems andStage 6 Films) |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million[2] |
| Box office | $33.2 million[3] |
Brightburn is a 2019 Americansuperherohorror film[4][5][6] directed byDavid Yarovesky, written byBrian andMark Gunn, and produced byJames Gunn andKenneth Huang, starringElizabeth Banks,David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn,Matt Jones andMeredith Hagner. The plot follows Brandon Breyer, a young boy of extraterrestrial origin reared on Earth who discovers he hassuperpowers, using them with dark intentions. The film was financed byThe H Collective, who produced with Troll Court Entertainment.
Brightburn was announced as "Untitled James Gunn Horror Project" in December 2017. Gunn produced the film, while his brother Brian and cousin Mark penned the screenplay, which adapts the concept ofSuperman for explicit horror.Principal photography began in March 2018 and wrapped in May of that same year.
Brightburn was released in the United States on May 24, 2019, byScreen Gems andStage 6 Films. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its visual effects, acting performances, cinematography, humor, and score, but felt that it did not deliver on the full potential of its premise. The film grossed $33.2 million against a production budget of $6–12 million the film has gained a cult following.
A spaceship crashes in a forest in Brightburn,Kansas. Tori and Kyle Breyer, a couple struggling with fertility, see the explosion from their house and decide to go to the crash site. They find the spaceship with a baby inside, whom they adopt and name Brandon.
On Brandon's 12th birthday, he discovers he hassuper-strength andflight abilities. In middle school, Brandon is an academically exceptional student, despite being socially strange and frequently bullied. Brandon begins to show urges towards his classmate Caitlyn Connor, sneaking into her room at night, scaring her. One day, during a trust exercise in aPhysical Education class, Caitlyn lets Brandon fall to the ground, calling him a pervert. Angered by her accusation, Brandon crushes her hand, and is suspended from school after being accosted by Caitlyn's mother, Erika, who wants him arrested.
In the night, the spaceship deciphers an otherworldly language that attracts Brandon to the barn. Tori follows and sees him levitating, chanting the ship's message, "Take the world," before falling and accidentally cutting his hand. She reveals the truth of his origin, causing Brandon to angrily storm out of the house, declaring his hatred towards his adoptive parents. With his true identity revealed after repeating the spaceship's message, Brandon stalks and kills Erika at the diner as revenge for being humiliated at school.
Police find blood symbols drawn on all diner windows while investigating Erika's disappearance, the same symbols Brandon is seen drawing in his notebook. Brandon visits his aunt's house to convince her to keep his incident at school a secret, but she refuses as demanded by the boy. Brandon dons his costume and begins to stalk her around the house, but gets caught by his uncle, Noah. After Noah threatens to tell his father about his behavior, Brandon frightens and kills him by flipping his truck on a dark road as he tries to escape.
Tori and Kyle inform Brandon of Noah's death, which the police believe was an accident. Brandon, attempting to cover up his actions, shows no emotion and attempts to dismiss it. Suspecting him to be the killer, Kyle finds Brandon's blood-stained shirt, and shows it to Tori, who refuses to believe Brandon is responsible. As a way to get rid of the evil being, Kyle takes him on a father-son hunting trip in the woods. He attempts to shoot and kill Brandon with his hunting rifle, but the bullet bounces off the back of his head. Brandon retaliates, and kills Kyle with heat vision.
The sheriff arrives at the Breyers's residence, showing Tori the symbol found at the scenes of Erika's and Noah's deaths, suggesting they are connected. Tori finds Brandon's notebook with drawings of his murders and the message, "Take the world." She calls Kyle, but Brandon answers and implies he is coming for her.
Brandon returns and begins destroying the house. Tori calls the police, but Brandon swiftly kills the officers before backup can arrive. Remembering that the ship's hull can harm him, Tori runs to the barn and discovers Erika's eviscerated body. Tori tries to stab him with a piece of the ship while emotionally subduing the pursuing Brandon, but fails. Enraged, he flies her high up into the sky, and drops her to her death. After watching her fall, he notices an oncoming airplane and destroys it.
The following morning, the airplane is revealed to have crashed into the farmhouse, destroying evidence of the murders from the previous night. Brandon's symbol is seen painted on a piece of the plane wreckage as rescue workers attend to him. In the credits, Brandon is seen in news reports over the locations of various disasters as an online conspiracy theorist points out the existence of other superpowered beings, and urges the public to take action before it is too late.
Rainn Wilson cameos in a photograph during the credits as his character Crimson Bolt from producerJames Gunn'sSuper (2010).
The film was announced in December 2017, then untitled, withJames Gunn as a producer, his brotherBrian and cousinMark writing the script, and David Yarovesky directing;The H Collective was fully financing, and producing with James Gunn's Troll Court Entertainment banner.[7] In March 2018,Elizabeth Banks,David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn,Meredith Hagner andMatt Jones were cast.[8] Gunn was set to appear on a panel to discuss the project atSan Diego Comic-Con in July 2018, but his appearance was canceled after news broke that Disney had fired Gunn as director ofGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) due to offensivetweets;[9] Gunn would later be reinstated by that October, with his return publicly revealed in March 2019.[10]
Principal photography began in March 2018 and wrapped in May of that year in the U.S. state ofGeorgia.[11] The building collapse portion of the mid-credits scene uses footage taken from the real-life demolition of the Sir John Carling Building inOttawa,Ontario, Canada on July 13, 2014.[12] The middle school scenes were shot at the now-defunctPatrick Henry High School inStockbridge, Georgia, the same location used for both Hawkins Middle and Hawkins High Schools in theNetflix seriesStranger Things.[13]
There were plans to promote the film at the 2018San Diego Comic-Con in July, but it was pulled at the last minute in the wake ofJames Gunn's removal fromthe Walt Disney Studios andMarvel Studios, only for Disney and Marvel to reconcile with Gunn nine months later.[10] On December 8, 2018, the first trailer forBrightburn was released online.
Critics viewed the trailer as an "Ultraman horror movie" due to the intentional similarities toSuperman'sorigin story and as a deconstruction of the character.[4][14]Fast Company stated that "although it's not officially a Superman movie, it walks viewers through every step ofClark Kent's origin story before taking a hard left turn".[15][16]
On April 3, 2019, an art contest was launched after the release of the trailer to promote the film, and had concluded on May 20. The winners of the contest had their artworks used in marketing for the film, and received $2,000.[17] On May 21, 2019,IGN promoted the film by uploading a prank of unsuspecting volunteers with the character Brandon Breyer. It was uploaded to their website andYouTube channel.[18][19]
Another art contest was launched on August 5 to promote the home media release of the film titled "Band with Brightburn". Submissions had to depict other supervillains in reference to the ending scene of the film hinting at other superpowered characters. Actor Jackson A. Dunn was the judge of the contest, and it was sponsored byCollider.[20]
Brightburn was released in the United States on May 24, 2019.[9][21] It was originally scheduled for November 30, 2018.[22] In the UK, a censored version of the film was released on June 19, 2019, the studio having reduced the level of violence to meet their preferredage certificate.[23]
The film was released on Digital HD on August 6, 2019, and on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD on August 20, 2019.[24] In the UK, the Blu-ray release contained the theatrical censored cut of the film, while the 4K Blu-ray contained the uncut18 certificate version.[23]
In April 2021, Sony signed a deal with Disney giving them access to their legacy content, includingBrightburn to stream onDisney+ andHulu and appear on Disney's linear television networks. Disney's access to Sony's titles would come following their availability onNetflix.Brightburn had previously been available onStarz andFX.[25][26]
In August 2019, it was announced a Halloween costume of Brandon Breyer was going to be sold exclusively bySpirit Halloween in October.[27]
Brightburn grossed $17.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $15.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $33.2 million.[3]
In the United States and Canada,Brightburn was released alongsideAladdin andBooksmart, and was projected to gross around $12–16 million from 2,607 theaters in its four-day opening weekend.[28] The film made $3 million on its first day, including $950,000 from Thursday night previews.[29] It ended up underperforming, grossing $7.8 million over three days (and $9.6 million over the four), finishing in fifth.[2] In its second weekend the film made $2.3 million, dropping 70.5% and finishing in ninth.[30]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 57% based on 205 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "AlthoughBrightburn doesn't fully deliver on the pitch-black promise of its setup, it's still enough to offer a diverting subversion of the superhero genre."[31] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[32] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while those atPostTrak gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars and a "definite recommend" of 39%.[2][29]
Frank Scheck ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote: "While not exactly original, the premise is certainly effective enough. ButBrightburn lacks the visual stylization or wit to elevate it from the realm of the crudely effective B-movie."[6] James White fromEmpire wrote: "Crossbreeding superhero tropes with horror staples was an idea laden with promise.Brightburn is enlivened by trademark James Gunn black comedy, but hamstrung by sketchy writing and a botched sense of dread."[33]
Alex Arabian fromThe Playlist wrote: "The film is a gem, especially for anyone yearning for a superhero film that gleefully torches the familiar 'good versus evil' formula and introduces far more sinister sensibilities."[5]
Ed Gonzalez fromSlant gave it a negative review: "The way the film shuttles through its 90 minutes, it’s as if it’s been stripped of its most crucial narrative parts."[34]
Canceled Sequel In May 2019, director David Yarovesky stated that upon the film potentially being a success, the universe ofBrightburn would be expanded upon.[35] In a later interview withCollider, Yarovesky confirmed that the film's credits making reference to a half-man/half-sea creature terrorizing the seas,Rainn Wilson's character Frank Darbo / The Crimson Bolt fromSuper, and a powerful witch who chokes her victims with a rope was intended to set up a sequel, in addition noting that an alternate ending to the film featured Emmie Hunter's "Caitlyn—[ending] with her in a lab fastening a robot arm on her broken arm, and her just pissed off", as well as mentioning "tons" of other such endings as having been discussed, as well as stating that "[i]f we were to expand theBrightburn universe in other installments and in other ways, we would probably be doing it in the exact same way, in total secrecy and then drop a cinematic trailer at some point that kind of teases what that new direction may be".[36]
In June 2019, producer James Gunn stated that discussion of a potential sequel was happening, but he was busy writing and directingDC Extended Universe (DCEU) filmThe Suicide Squad and theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) filmGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.[37] In August 2019, Jackson A. Dunn stated in an interview withScreen Rant that he would be interested in reprising his role as Brandon Breyer.[38] In addition, Dunn said he would like to see up-and-coming actors being cast in lead roles in potential future films.[39]
In April 2024, Gunn expressed doubt that a sequel would happen due to rights issues with the H Collective.[40]
With Georgia standing in for Kansas
