Weeks after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock for joking about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, the Prince of Bel-Air has lost yet another one of his upcoming projects. According to Bloomberg, Netflix has decided to cancel Bright 2. However, unlike Bad Boys 4, which was reportedly dropped due to the incident, the streaming platform’s decision has less to do with Will Smith’s inability to restrain himself. The report declined to elaborate further, but fans are assuming that this is a response to Netflix losing subscribers for the first time in a decade. The resulting subscriber loss has already affected Netflix’s finances heavily, with stocks dropping by as much as 39%, effectively wiping out billions from the streaming giant. It would make sense for Netflix to tighten its belt and focus more on projects that would help it turn a profit as opposed to expensive endeavors that might not pan out. Ultimately, dropping the Bright sequel is a smart move. The 2017 movie was a creative and unique endeavor but ultimately failed to deliver on its potential despite toying with the idea of “what if mythological creatures existed alongside modern society?” It’s highly unlikely that a sequel would have done better. Things have gone from bad to worse for Will Smith and there’s no end in sight. ad Boys 4, Bright 2, and Deadshot are just some of the films that Will Smith will no longer get to star in now, in addition to being banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years. Smith might even end up losing his role in the I Am Legend sequel, which would otherwise star him alongside Michael B. Jordan. However, Smith’s problems probably aren’t as big as those of Netflix. Apparently, subscribers are no longer as sold on the idea of Netflix these days. Perhaps the streaming platform should have seen this coming after building a reputation for having a little bit of everything. Netflix might have always had originals going for it, but its main strength was always its catalog. Now that the companies that own the IPs of its most popular shows are starting to take back what is theirs, Netflix is left with a thinning library that became harder to justify following the price increase earlier this year.
