Over the holiday, Netflix premiered an original film called “Bright.” Directed by David Ayer (of “Suicide Squad” infamy) and starring Will Smith (“Ali,” “Pursuit of Happyness”) and Joel Edgerton (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Great Gatsby”), “Bright” is a strange beast.
It’s categorized as an American urban fantasy crime film (what a mouthful) and takes place in a fictional world where orcs, elves and fairies all exist in urban Los Angeles. Smith plays a police officer who is assigned to partner with the LAPD’s first orc police officer, played by Edgerton. In this world, there are dirty cops, magic wands and ancient prophecies. It’s a real mess, and it isn’t very good.
Ayer even tries to implement some heavy-handed and clumsy race relation parallels with the interactions between the different fantasy species. At one point in the film, Smith’s character beats a fairy to death with a broom and says, “Fairy lives don’t matter today.” I almost cringed into another dimension. So, to summarize, despite an interesting premise, “Bright” is bad. It is like a buddy cop film had a baby with a “Dungeons and Dragons” campaign, and it left out all of the good things from each of its parents.
But that’s not what I want to talk about; regardless of how poorly the movie was reviewed (currently sitting at 26 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), it was successful. Netflix revealed that it was their most streamed original film and one of most highly streamed pieces of content ever, Netflix original or not. Regardless of its quality, “Bright” was a success. I don’t think it can be overstated how big of a triumph it is for Netflix and a game changer for mainstream cinema.
Let’s break it down to a simpler level. It’s really remarkable that “Bright” exists. We’re at a point where a media streaming company is able to hire mainstream actors, directors and stuntmen in order to make a blockbuster that never premiered in theaters and is only available for streaming.
Is this the downfall of movie theaters? If media streaming companies have grown confident enough to produce content that rivals regular movies then that could be the end of movie theaters as we know them… Why would someone get in their car, drive to the movie theater and pay $20 (more if they want food) to watch a film when I could pay $12 dollars a month to stream a film in the comfort of their own home? You don’t have to worry about sneaking in food or bringing a coat. Hell, you don’t even have to wear pants.
Now, I enjoy going to the theater as much as the next guy, and I really am rooting for them, but it’s really hard to compete with staying home and watching Netflix. Especially if they can produce content rivaling big-budget Hollywood level entertainment. I’m certain that streaming sites are the future of film. This is something that corporations have started figuring out. Just look at Disney: they plan on pulling all of their films from Netflix and Hulu by 2020 and starting their own streaming site. Because they know they can get that sweet $10 a month subscription money. In the future, there will be no reason to visit a movie theater, when movie release can be streamed through the internet in the comfort of your own home.