Will Smith’s difficulties continue as Netflix cancels ‘Bright 2’ and National Geographic pushes back the release of ‘Pole to Pole’
Two projects starring Will Smith have had their productions delayed or canceled, with National Geographic delaying one of its upcoming programs and Netflix canceling Bright 2.
Pole to Pole, a National Geographic nature series that was supposed to follow Smith as he visited both the South Pole and the North Pole, has been postponed. Bloomberg obtained the information from a source close to the project. Smith’s third appearance with NatGeo, following One Strange Rock in 2018 and Welcome to Earth in 2021. The production was supposed to begin in three weeks, but it will instead begin in the fall.
According to Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw, Netflix has also shelved plans to release Bright 2, a sequel to the 2017 David Ayer-directed film starring Smith. Smith played Daryl Ward, an LAPD detective in a version of Los Angeles where humans coexist with a variety of magical monsters in the original film. In the sequel, he was set to reprise his role. The initial film was not well reviewed by reviewers, but it was one of the biggest film releases ever for the streaming service at the time, so it’s no surprise that a sequel was announced in January 2018. The film has been officially scrapped after four years. Bright: Samurai Soul, a spin-off animated series, was released in 2021, although it is presently unknown if any additional Bright productions will be released on Netflix.
According to the Bloomberg report, the delay is the result of Smith slapping presenter Chris Rock at the Oscars last month after the comedian made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, though Shaw quickly clarifies in his tweet that the cancellation of Bright 2 is “unrelated” to the slap that occurred on Oscars night. Smith has also resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has issued him a 10-year ban as a result of the incident. Other projects that have been placed on hold as a result of the slap include Netflix’s upcoming action film Fast and Loose, which stars Smith. At the time of writing, both Netflix’s criminal biography The Council and Sony Entertainment’s forthcoming Bad Boys film were still in production.
