BRIGHTBURN Trailer

With superheroes inundating our theaters, it’s about time someone breaks the genre mold. That’s exactly what Brightburn aims to do, placing a character with extraordinary powers at the center of a horror film.

In the movie, a kid crash-lands into a field and is raised by the couple who find him, even when he starts flying around and busting through walls unscathed. I don’t think they’re allowed to call this kid Superman, but I’m also unclear how they aren’t being sued for blatantly taking Superman’s backstory. No matter. The only difference between this superkid and Clark Kent is that he gets pissed off at humanity instead of taking pity on us, making himself into the kind of villain Superman usually saves us from.

The idea for this genre twist came from somewhere in the Gunn family, with Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn credited as a producer while Brian and Mark Gunn wrote the script. Directing duties went to David Yarovesky, whose previous feature, The Hive, didn’t exactly light the world on fire. The trailer indicates that he’s sticking to script, though, with lots of visual links to the current Superman movies.

Donning the bad guy red cape is Jackson A. Dunn, a kid with several television credits to his name. However, it seems like the parents will be carrying the emotional weight of the film, and there they got two sturdy leads in Elizabeth Banks and David Denman.

With an odd take on a familiar story, it’s hard not to get excited for Brightburn. At the very least, it won’t be the same old, same old.

Brightburn is directed by David Yarovesky and stars Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, and Jackson A. Dunn. It will be released in the US on May 24th, 2019 and in the UK on June 21st, 2019. For international release dates, click here.

Are you interested in Brightburn?