Sony has moved back James Gunn’s horror project, now titled “BrightBurn,” from November of this year to May 24, 2019.
Gunn was previously set to discuss the project at San Diego ComicCon in the summer but did not appear following old comments the “Guardians of the Galaxy” director had made on Twitter that ultimately got him ousted from the Marvel movie series. Gunn teased something “dark, sweet and special” at the time, but did not appear during Sony’s Hall H panel.
“BrightBurn” is being produced by Gunn, written and produced by Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn, directed by David Yaroevsky and stars Elizabeth Banks. Dan Clifton, Nic Crawley and Simon Hatt are also producing. The plot is currently under wraps.
In its spot on November 30, 2018, Sony placed the horror film “The Possession of Hannah Grace,” which was previously undated.
In additional scheduling moves, Sony pushed the Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly buddy comedy “Holmes & Watson” to Christmas Day, back just four days from its original Dec. 21 date and the release of “Aquaman.” The studio also dated “The Intruder,” a thriller with Dennis Quaid, for April 26, 2019.
In July of this past year, Gunn was fired from Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise for old tweets about rape and pedophilia that the director admitted were “offensive.”
“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,” said Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, in a statement at the time.
“Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo,” Gunn wrote in a series of tweets. “As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor.”