In October, Netflix will release an anime film titled ‘Bright: Samurai Sword’. If the “Bright” part of the movie sounds familiar, that is because this upcoming animated film will be a spin-off from the 2017 Netflix premiered feature, Bright. While Bright wasn’t received well by critics or Netflix subscribers, the world built around the story was quite intriguing. So, Netflix decided to create a spin-off film, Bright: Samurai Sword, which is set in the same world as Bright, just a couple of centuries ago – and in Japan. With this spin-off, Netflix will be hoping to redeem themselves with a new cinematic cinematic style and plot in the “Bright Universe” – and will probably use the anime’s reception to gauge how to proceed with their rumoured Bright sequel.
Back in 2017, Netflix decided to release an urban fantasy action film, Bright. The project was ambitious with a budget of USD 90 million, making it their most expensive direct-to-OTT released film at the time. The film had a strong cast featuring Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Edgar Ramirez and Noomi Rapace. The film was written by American Ultra screenwriter, Max Landis and directed by David Ayer. The film was supposed to be a guaranteed hit. And then the film dropped on Netflix.
Bright had huge issues with the way it showed major political and social issues onscreen – such as racism, police brutality and gang violence. The dialogue in the film sounded improvised for some reason and the movie was badly written. The only good thing about the movie was its world-building – “Humans coexist with other sentient species, notably orcs and elves in this alternate universe. Magic is real but heavily regulated”. This premise is good enough to keep people interested in the movie, but the movie becomes too unwatchable at times.
Hopefully, Bright: Samurai Sword will be the answer to both Netflix and this film “franchise”. A fantasy world being reimagined into an anime is nothing new – and might even be a better idea going forward. If the film does well, then it would be better for Netflix to create more animated projects, all set in the Bright Universe.
Catch Bright: Samurai Sword when it premiere on Netflix on October 12th 2021. Check out the trailer for this upcoming anime down below: