It would appear that M. Night Shyamalan's poor reputation as of late has driven to make films underground, as it has just been announced that the Sixth Sense director has already completed work on his next project and has now found a distributor.
This news comes to us from Deadline, which says that Universal has picked up the worldwide rights to The Visit, a low budget horror movie that M. Night Shyamalan made in partnership with the folks over at Blumhouse Productions. The report says that the film is more in line with the movies the filmmaker he began his career with (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) and less like the critically-shredded material that killed his career (The Last Airbender, The Happening). He actually self-financed the movie, staying away from the studio system, and shot the entire thing around his home in Pennsylvania.
There are no actors mentioned in connection with The Visit, but there is a full plot synopsis.The story centers on a young brother and sister who are sent by their parents to visit their grandparents' farm out in Pennsylvania. Things start to go wrong when the kids discover "the elderly couple is involved in something deeply disturbing" (apparently we're not going to learn exactly what kind of horror movie this is until the trailer), and they must find some way to try and escape and make their way back home. With any luck, it won't end with a half-assed twist that Shyamalan feels the desire to include for little to no reason.
The visit will be M. Night Shyamalan's first film since the completely disastrous After Earth, which came out last summer. In addition to being completely ripped apart by critics, it only managed to open at number three at the box office (losing to Fast & Furious 6 in its second week and Now You See Me in its first) and ultimately only managed to make 60 million domestically on a $130 million budget. It made some of its money back overseas, where it pulled in a solid $183 million, but still Shyamalan's reputation was tarnished. Hence his desire to get away from Hollywood and make a movie completely on his own terms.
The Visit will be in theaters on September 11, 2015, which will put it directly up against John Hillcoat's star-studded thriller Triple Nine. Hopefully this will be the movie that demonstrates M. Night Shyamalan can be a quality filmmaker - but have audiences been burned too many times? Answer our poll below and tell us what you think about the filmmaker in the comments below.
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