2019 is finally upon us, and while January is usually a quieter month when it comes to movies, we're now only weeks away from one of the year's highly-anticipated theatrical presentations arriving: Glass, the sequel to both Unbreakable and Split. For those of you who are especially excited for Glass and want to see it as soon as possible, you're in luck if you happen to live near an Alamo Drafthouse, because the theater chain will be holding early screenings for M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie.
On Saturday, January 12, almost a week before Glass is released to the masses, 25 participating Alamo Drafthouse theaters in the United States will hold The M. Night Shyamalanathon, a marathon screening of Unbreakable, Split and Glass, a.k.a. the Eastrail 177 Trilogy. This will be the first American public screening of Glass, and tickets are free with the purchase of a $5 food and drink voucher which can be redeemed at the show.
Additionally, after the marathon is over, M. Night Shyamalan will appear at the Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn for an "exclusive conversation" that will be broadcast to all the other Alamo Drafthouse theaters. Tickets can now be reserved for the Brooklyn live show and the screenings elsewhere in the country.
While it was originally believed that 2016's Split was just another one of M. Night Shyamalan's self-contained movies, in typical Shyamalan fashion, there was a twist: Bruce Willis' David Dunn, the protagonist of 2000's Unbreakable, appeared at the very end, revealing that these two movies existed in the same world. So naturally it makes sense to screen Unbreakable and Split ahead of Glass; these are all chapters of the same saga, and this way the hardcore fans can watch said saga unfold at once on the big screen.
Although Unbreakable was a critical success and made $248 million off a $75 million budget, that box office haul apparently wasn't big enough big enough for Disney, which released the movie under its Touchstone Pictures banner. So despite interest from M. Night Shyamalan, Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson in making Unbreakable 2, those plans fell through, but nearly two decades later, we're finally getting a follow-up to that story.
Glass will see David Dunn, a.k.a. The Overseer, pursuing Kevin Wendell Crumb, a.k.a. The Horde, whose most dangerous personality, The Beast, has teamed up with teamed up with David's friend-turned-nemesis, Elijah Price, a.k.a. Mr. Glass/The Mastermind. Unbreakable's Spencer Treat Clark and Charlene Woodard and Split's Anya-Taylor-Joy are also reprising their respective roles, and Sarah Paulson is playing Dr. Ellie Staple. While M. Night Shyamalan once said he was open to the idea of expanding this film series beyond a trilogy, he noted last month that a Glass sequel isn't in the cards right now because he wants to focus on other projects.
If you're unable to see Glass early at The M. Night Shyamalanathon, you can watch it with everyone else starting January 18. Don't forget to also look through our 2019 release schedule to learn what other movies are coming out later in the year.
