The plot follows Brandon Breyer, a young boy of extraterrestrial origin reared on Earth who discovers he has superpowers, using them with dark intentions.
Gunn produced the film, while his brother Brian and cousin Mark penned the screenplay, which adapts the concept of Superman for explicit horror.
One day, during a trust exercise in Physical Education class, Brandon falls towards Caitlyn, but she lets him drop to the ground and calls him a pervert.
Angered by her accusation, Brandon crushes her hand and is suspended from school after being accosted by Caitlyn's mother, Erika.
An online conspiracy theorist posts his own video analyzing the disasters and referencing attacks by other cryptids elsewhere in the world, urging the public to recognize the potential danger these beings pose and to take action before it is too late.
Rainn Wilson cameos in a photograph during the credits as his character Crimson Bolt from producer James Gunn's Super (2010).
The film was announced in December 2017, then untitled, with James Gunn as a producer, his brother Brian and cousin Mark writing the script, and David Yarovesky directing.
[4] In March 2018, Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Meredith Hagner and Matt Jones were cast.
Critics viewed the trailer as an "Ultraman horror movie" due to the intentional similarities to Superman's origin story and as a deconstruction of the character.
[11][12] Fast Company stated that "although it's not officially a Superman movie, it walks viewers through every step of Clark Kent's origin story before taking a hard left turn".
[16][17] Another art contest was launched on August 5 to promote the home media release of the film titled "Band with Brightburn".
[20] In the UK, a censored version of the film was released on June 19, 2019, the studio having reduced the level of violence to meet their preferred age certificate.
[3] In the United States and Canada, Brightburn was released alongside Aladdin and Booksmart, and was projected to gross around $12–16 million from 2,607 theaters in its four-day opening weekend.
The website's critical consensus reads: "Although Brightburn doesn't fully deliver on the pitch-black promise of its setup, it's still enough to offer a diverting subversion of the superhero genre.
Brightburn is enlivened by trademark James Gunn black comedy, but hamstrung by sketchy writing and a botched sense of dread.
"[33] Ed Gonzalez from Slant also gave it a negative review: "The way the film shuttles through its 90 minutes, it’s as if it’s been stripped of its most crucial narrative parts.
[35] In a later interview with Collider, Yarovesky confirmed that the film's credits making reference to a half-man/half-sea creature terrorizing the seas, Rainn Wilson's character Frank Darbo / The Crimson Bolt from Super, and a powerful witch who chokes her victims with a rope was intended to set up a sequel, in addition noting that an alternate ending to the film featured Emmie Hunter's "Caitlyn—[ending] with her in a lab fastening a robot arm on her broken arm, and her just pissed off", as well as mentioning "tons" of other such endings as having been discussed, as well as stating that "[i]f we were to expand the Brightburn universe in other installments and in other ways, we would probably be doing it in the exact same way, in total secrecy and then drop a cinematic trailer at some point that kind of teases what that new direction may be".
[36] In June 2019, producer James Gunn stated that discussion of a potential sequel was happening, but he was busy writing and directing The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.
[37] In August 2019, Jackson A. Dunn stated in an interview with Screen Rant that he would be interested in reprising his role as Brandon Breyer.