Netflix Shells Out A Ton For David Ayer’s ‘Bright’ Starring Will Smith

Netflix is taking over the world and its latest acquisition goes a long way toward reinforcing that idea.

According to Deadline, the streaming video service just ponied up $90 million for cop thriller Bright, to be directed by Suicide Squad’s David Ayer and star Will Smith and Joel Edgerton. Included in that whopper of a payout is somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million for screenwriter Max Landis, whose credits include… well, a lot of movies that wouldn’t have you jumping off your couch to go see a movie written by Max Landis.

Ah, but that’s the beauty of Netflix. You won’t have to jump off your couch to see this movie, you can stay planted right there. And according to whispers about the project, you will be glad you did. Netflix hopes to make a franchise out of Bright, which is said to be a clear cut R-rated movie but contain a lot of similar qualities and effects to that of another Smith franchise, Men In Black.

The movie will shoot in Los Angeles this fall, meaning Suicide Squad will have hit theaters by then. Smith is nowhere near the box office sure thing he once was but once again, therein lies the beauty of Netflix. Even if Suicide Squad tanks (it probably won’t but if it does, most of the finger pointing will be aimed at Smith given he’s the biggest name on the project), Netflix won’t have to worry about that sort of thing given the probable lack of a theatrical release as well as the fact that they famously don’t release any rating information about any of their original projects publicly, which gets the major broadcast networks’ pants all up in a bunch.

So, if you like fantastical cop flicks starring fading movie stars, get pumped for the massively expensive Bright. And if you don’t, just watch House of Cards, Love or Master of None again.