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 of Superman 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, by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the horror elements, gore, concept, and Banks' performance, but criticized its writing and pacing, and felt that the film did not deliver on the full potential of its premise. The film grossed $32.9 million against a production budget of $6–12 million.
Plot
In 2006, a spaceship crashes in a forest in Brightburn, Kansas. Tori and Kyle Breyer, a couple who are trying but unable to conceive, see an explosion from their house and go out to the crash site. When they reach the crash they find a spaceship with a baby inside, whom they adopt and name Brandon. The spacecraft is then hidden in their barn, which Brandon's parents tell him to stay away from. Around Brandon's 12th birthday, he begins to discover he has exceptional strength, as well as the ability to fly. It is revealed that Brandon has never bled or received a bruise. His disposition also changes, from a sweet child to having anger and temper issues.
In middle school, Brandon is an academically exceptional student but socially awkward and frequently bullied. Caitlyn Connor, a girl in Brandon's class, shows sympathy for him and tells him that smart people end up ruling the world. Brandon develops a crush and stalks Caitlyn in her room in the middle of the night, scaring her. One day, during a trust exercise in Physical Education class, Brandon falls towards Caitlyn, but she lets him drop to the ground and calls him a pervert. Angered by her accusation, Brandon crushes her hand and is suspended from school after being accosted by Caitlyn's mother, Erika.
That night, Brandon sleepwalks once again to the spaceship and breaks into the barn where it is hidden, cutting his hand on the ship. Tori follows and sees him levitating, chanting the ship's message: "Take the world". Tori reveals the truth of his origin, and Brandon angrily trashes the house and later kills Erika. Police find a series of symbols drawn on a window while investigating Erika's disappearance, the same symbols that Brandon is seen drawing in his notebook. The next day, Brandon dons his costume and is then caught sneaking into his aunt and uncle's house by his uncle, Noah. After Noah threatens to tell his father, Brandon kills him by lifting and dropping his vehicle. The following morning, Tori and Kyle inform Brandon of Noah's death, which the police believe was an accident, but Brandon shows no emotion nor empathy. Suspecting Brandon to be the killer, Kyle finds Brandon's blood-stained shirt and shows it to Tori, but she refuses to believe it.
Kyle takes Brandon on a father-son hunting trip in the woods. Kyle attempts to shoot and kill Brandon with his hunting rifle, but the execution fails when the bullet bounces off the back of Brandon's head. Brandon then kills him with heat vision. A sheriff arrives at the Breyers' and asks to see Brandon. Tori tells the sheriff that Kyle and Brandon are not home, so he shows Tori the symbol found at the scenes of Erika's and Noah's deaths. Tori finds Brandon's notebook with drawings of his murders, the same symbol that the sheriff found at both murders and his message to "take the world". She begins to believe Kyle. She tries calling Kyle, but Brandon answers and implies he is now coming for her.
Brandon returns and begins destroying the house. Tori calls 911, but both the sheriff and his deputy are killed by Brandon before backup can arrive. Remembering that the ship's hull can cut Brandon, Tori runs to the barn and discovers Erika's eviscerated body. As Brandon pursues her, Tori tries to tell him about how much she loves him. She then tries to stab him with a piece of the ship, but Brandon grabs her arm, tosses the shard to the floor, and flies his mother into the sky to drop her from several thousand feet to her death. After he watches her fall, he looks up to see an oncoming airplane.
The following morning, the airplane is revealed to have mysteriously crashed into the farmhouse, destroying the evidence of the murders from the previous night. Brandon's symbol is seen painted on a piece of the plane wreckage.
In a mid-credits scene, Brandon, now identified as Brightburn, is seen from the perspective of news reports and eyewitness footage over the locations of various disasters, such as a building collapse and a wildfire. An online conspiracy theorist posts his own video analyzing the disasters and referencing attacks by other cryptids elsewhere in the world, urging the public to recognize the potential danger these beings pose and to take action before it's too late.
Cast
Elizabeth Banks as Tori Breyer: Brandon's adoptive mother and Kyle's wife
David Denman as Kyle Breyer: Brandon's adoptive father and Tori's husband
Jackson A. Dunn as Brandon Breyer / Brightburn: a superpowered alien who is adopted by the Breyer family
Meredith Hagner as Merilee McNichol: Tori's sister, Brandon's aunt and Noah's wife who works as Brandon's school counselor
Matt Jones as Noah McNichol: Brandon's uncle and Merilee's husband
Michael Rooker as The Big T: a conspiracy theory blogger who reports on the super-powered beings
Rainn Wilson cameos in a photograph during the credits as his character Crimson Bolt from producer James Gunn's Super (2010).
Production
The film was announced in December 2017, then untitled, with James Gunn as a producer, his brother Brian and cousin Mark writing the script, and David Yarovesky directing.[3] In March 2018, Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Meredith Hagner and Matt Jones were cast.[4] Gunn was set to appear on a panel to discuss the project at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2018, but his appearance was canceled after news broke that Disney had fired Gunn as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) due to offensive tweets;[5] Gunn would later be reinstated by that October, with his return publicly revealed in March 2019.[6]
Principal photography began in March 2018 and wrapped in May of that year in the U.S. state of Georgia.[7] The building collapse portion of the mid-credits scene uses footage taken from the real-life demolition of the Sir John Carling Building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on July 13, 2014.[8] The middle school scenes were shot at the now-defunct Patrick Henry High School in Stockbridge, Georgia, the same location used for both Hawkins Middle and Hawkins High Schools in the Netflix series Stranger Things.[9]
There were plans to promote the film at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con in July, but it was pulled at the last minute in the wake of James Gunn's removal from Walt Disney Studios and Marvel Studios, only for Disney and Marvel to reconcile with Gunn nine months later.[6] On December 8, 2018, the first trailer for Brightburn was released online.
Critics viewed the trailer as an "Ultraman horror movie" due to the intentional similarities to Superman's origin story and as a deconstruction of the character.[10][11]Fast Company stated that "although it's not officially a Superman movie, it walks viewers through every step of Clark Kent's origin story before taking a hard left turn".[12][13]
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.[14] 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 and YouTube channel.[15][16]
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 by Collider.[17]
Theatrical
Brightburn was released in the United States on May 24, 2019.[5][18] It was originally scheduled for November 30, 2018.[19]
Home media
The film was released on Digital HD on August 6, 2019, and on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD on August 20, 2019.[20]
In April 2021, Sony signed a deal with Disney giving them access to their legacy content, including Brightburn to stream on Disney+ and Hulu and appear on Disney's linear television networks. Disney's access to Sony's titles would come following their availability on Netflix. Brightburn had previously been available on Starz and FX.[21][22]
Merchandise
In August 2019, it was announced a Halloween costume of Brandon Breyer was going to be sold exclusively by Spirit Halloween in October.[23]
Reception
Box office
Brightburn grossed $17.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $15.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $32.8 million.[2]
In the United States and Canada, Brightburn was released alongside Aladdin and Booksmart, and was projected to gross around $12–16 million from 2,607 theaters in its four-day opening weekend.[24] The film made $3 million on its first day, including $950,000 from Thursday night previews.[25] It ended up underperforming, grossing $7.8 million over three days (and $9.6 million over the four), finishing in fifth.[1] In its second weekend the film made $2.3 million, dropping 70.5% and finishing in ninth.[26]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 57% based on 209 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads "Although Brightburn 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."[27] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[28] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars and a "definite recommend" of 39%.[1][25]
Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "While not exactly original, the premise is certainly effective enough. But Brightburn lacks the visual stylization or wit to elevate it from the realm of the crudely effective B-movie."[29] James White from Empire 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."[30]
Alex Arabian from The 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."[31]
Ed Gonzalez from Slant also gave 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."[32]
Future
In May 2019, director David Yarovesky stated that upon the film potentially being a success, the universe of Brightburn would be expanded upon.[33] In a later interview with Collider, 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 from Super, 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 the Brightburn 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".[34]
In June 2019, producer James Gunn stated that discussion of a potential sequel was happening, but he was busy writing and directing The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.[35] In August 2019, Jackson A. Dunn stated in an interview with Screen Rant that he would be interested in reprising his role as Brandon Breyer.[36] In addition, Dunn said he would like to see up-and-coming actors being cast in lead roles in potential future films.[37]
