Director David Yarovesky and producer James Gunn's upcoming superhero horror film Brightburn is set to hit theaters on Memorial Day weekend. The film was originally slated to be released this past November, but Gunn assures that Brightburn will make for a great way for audiences to kick off the summertime.
Gunn described the film as "a great Memorial Day movie," while speaking with Entertainment Weekly, adding, "Who doesn't want to see an alien child on a murderous rampage as we begin our summer?"
Brightburn takes inspiration from DC's Superman mythos, with the key exception being the extraterrestrial child with superpowers who came to Earth does not want to be a hero to humanity, choosing to be something much more sinister. "Mabe adopting an alien baby you find in the woods isn't the best idea,"Â Yarovesky said.
In addition to being produced by James Gunn, the film is written by his brother Brian and their cousin Mark Gunn. Additionally, the film stars Elizabeth Banks -- who James Gunn previously worked with on his 2006 film Slither -- alongside David Denman and Jackson A. Dunn.
"Brian and Mark were talking about doing this new take on the superhero myth," Gunn explained. "It was a creepy, scary, almost independent movie-type script. We just kept bashing this thing out for about six months, eight months before we got the script to a place where we thought, 'Yeah, let's go make that.'"
"We wanted to create a movie that was not only a great movie but was actually pleasant to make with people who we trusted and loved around us," he continued. "Elizabeth is one of my very close friends and since she starred in Slither I've wanted to work with her again. This was a perfect opportunity to create something that I think spoke to her very specifically, so she was excited about it."
Entertainment Weekly also released a new exclusive image from the film, which highlights the mask worn by Brandon Beyer, the aforementioned extraterrestrial child played by Dunn. The mask was constructed by costume designer Autumn Steed, with both Gunn and Yarovesky (Steed's husband) praising the design.
"I just gave so many notes on that mask, trying to create a really truly iconic horror movie character in the same way that Freddy Krueger is, or in the same way that Leatherface is, or in the same way that Jason [Voorhees] is," Gunn said. "Trying to create something with that same sort of feel that is instantly scary [and] plays with the superhero-ness of it all but at the same time is most definitely rooted in horror."
"In the process of getting to the final result -- that we're all incredibly proud of -- she was like a factory," Yarovesky added. "She would just make so many different iterations of the mask. At a certain point, I came into her office, and her wall was wallpapered with iterations of the mask, just the evolution of it is crazy. I just think she did an incredibly job. I'd buy it because she's my wife, but I do think she did an incredible job."
Directed by David Yarovesky, Brightburn is produced by James Gunn and written by Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn. The film stars Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones, Meredith Hagner, Steve Agee, Becky Wahlstrom and Stephen Blackehart. It opens May 24.