Well, this is rather fascinating. It had been untitled for months, but we’ve known about a James Gunn-produced genre movie that was supposed to come out in 2018 for a long time. Kept mostly under wraps, the film was supposed to hit this fall. But it became delayed when bad-faith-acting Alt-Right trolls targeted Gunn earlier this year, and exploited some of his awful, poor taste jokes, which forced Marvel to fire him from “Guardians Of The Galaxy.” The controversy led the studio to hold a beat on his new movie. Now, we can see why, because the movie, “Brightburn,” is essentially James Gunn doing a sinister riff on Superman, and we mean, like via some hardcore biting, albeit intentionally.
Modeled exclusively after Zack Snyder’s “Man Of Steel,” at least the trailer is, “Brightburn” copies that movies first promo teaser almost beat for beat. There are the shots of the Terrence Malick-ian wheat fields, the sunrise, the clothes drying on clotheslines, flowing poetically in the wind and then there’s a somber, very similar tone and music that Hans Zimmer delivered for that first “Man Of Steel” trailer. Directed by David Yarovesky (“The Hive”)—Gunn is producing— The H Collective, Sony Pictures’ label Screen Gems, and the team around this film aren’t subtle and lean in hard with the similarities including the same “Man Of Steel” font and the same, “visionary director” tag that studios have used in the past when promoting Zack Snyder (this time it’s Gunn that’s the visionary”).
It would be outrageously egregious if it weren’t purposeful; Gunn and Yarovesky are obviously trying to evoke Superman and Snyder’s first DCEU film (ironic given Gunn was a Marvel guy who’s now moved over to DC Films with “Suicide Squad 2”).
READ MORE: Dave Bautista Says ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3’ Is “On Hold Indefinitely”
But then “Brightburn” goes purposefully dark, and it’s clear that Gunn has crafted a superhero horror version of the Superman tale—what if a mother and father were given a “gift” from the skies in the form of an alien humanoid baby. But unlike Clark Kent that becomes a beacon of hope for the world, Gunn’s what if version looks the dark side implications of that concept going all wrong (and it literally looks like Gunn applying Marvel’s “What If” comic book series concept to Superman, but not calling it that for legal reasons; clever).
READ MORE: James Gunn’s Secret Horror Project Starring Elizabeth Banks To Be Released In November
There’s a young boy, a red cape, similar powers, but instead of hope and inspiration, fear and alarm at the boy’s abilities which are, when you think about, much closer to how the real world would react, especially these days. “Brightburn” looks something like an experiment, a genre exercise and something absolutely fascinating. Here’s the official synopsis:
What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister? With Brightburn, the visionary filmmaker of Guardians of the Galaxy and Slither presents a startling, subversive take on a radical new genre: superhero horror.
The first trailer for “Brightburn,” was unveiled today at Comic-Con Experience (CCXP) Brazil in front of thousands of fans. Written by Mark Gunn & Brian Gunn, the trailer gives a haunting look of the film, which stars Elizabeth Banks (“The Hunger Games,” “Pitch Perfect”), David Denman (“13 Hours,” “Power Rangers”), Jackson A. Dunn (“Shameless”), Matt Jones (“Mom,” “Home”) and Meredith Hagner (“Younger,” “Set it Up”).
Screen Gems will release “Brightburn” wide theatrically in the U.S over Memorial Day Weekend, on May 24th 2019 as well as most international territories. Check out the trailer below.
