Shyamalan is a brand. His name alone being stamped on a trailer can sell movie tickets. The India-born, Philadelphia-raised filmmaker has been riffing on “Twilight Zone”-type premises for 25 years now.
Shyamalan is not resting either. After “Knock at the Cabin” he’s all ready to shoot his next film. I’m being told that a June shoot is set for “Trap,” due to hit theaters in 2024.
Shyamalan has been mum about this new project, but he did, albeit briefly, mention some details:
“It’s a thriller. It’s very unusual and very new compared to what I’ve been trying to do [recently], but I’m feeling very excited about the story, so much so that I can’t wait to tell it to you guys.”
“I will say this, the angle into the story is why it’s so exciting. The story might be something that you’ve seen before but the angle is very, very unique – the point of view.”
It has been speculated that this mysterious Shyamalan film might be “Labor Of Love.” Based on one of the very first scripts the director sold in his career, which went to Fox in 1993, the story reportedly follows a book store owner who loses the love of his life in a tragic accident.
“Sometimes there are films that filmmakers wanna make for a long time and they never make it and then they get a chance to make it. This is the reverse, I’ve had many chances to make it and I have been the one that’s been saying no. It’s partly because I have so many stories to tell. I wrote that when I was 23. It represented something very special and people relate to that screenplay in a way that is irrational. But [doing it] in lieu of telling a story that represents me now? It’s always a hard [decision].”
Shyamalan was tempted to shoot “Labor of Love” after completing “Unbreakable” in 2000, but then decided to make “Signs.” An old-school Shyamalan script might be just what the doctor ordered. The India-born American filmmaker has yet to top his twin peaks of “The Sixth Sense”/“Unbreakable” which were released more than twenty years ago.
Speaking of “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable,” I’m still waiting for him to top these two films, released in 1999 and 2000, respectively.
Shyamalan’s had many up and downs since then, constantly challenging himself, and his audience, but it seems as though Newsweek’s 2004 proclamation that he’s the “The Next Spielberg” feels rather far-fetched today.
Netflix and Skydance Animation have also called it quits. The two sides announced Monday that they're ending the animated film deal struck back in 2023, framing it as a mutual decision.