In an interview with Collider, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has revealed the first details on his upcoming two new original thrillers for Universal Pictures, giving us a much better idea of what to expect for the films’ tone and scale. He also confirmed that he has a new idea for a potential third project, describing all three films as “weird and dark.”
“I just had two movie ideas I felt very strongly about…” Shyamalan said. “And, interesting enough, there might be a third thing that came to me that might end up going in between these two. So there might be three.”
RELATED: CS Video: Servant Cast Talks Shyamalan’s Psychological Thriller Series
He further explained that the three won’t be connected with each other and that it would be on the same scale as The Visit. “I’m loving this approach from The Visit on where they’re minimal, contained, I own them, we take big tonal risks and try to hit that note of absurd-but-grounded, that dark humor moment and deal with some complicated things and not necessarily take the audience where they’re comfortable, both during or even at the end. That’s all mitigated because we’re working with a respectable number and I feel like I’m being a good partner to my distributors. I like that because it allows me to iterate really fast in the making of these stories, so those films follow that architecture of approach and process. Even if it’s tricking myself into being more dangerous, it’s working because when I think about these three films that I’m thinking about—all weird and dark—I think that they speak to each other a little bit.”
The untitled projects will mark the latest collaboration between Shyamalan and Universal Pictures, who have previously collaborated on Glass, Split, and The Visit. It is not yet known which films Shyamlan’s upcoming projects will open up against in theaters on those release dates.
RELATED: Two M. Night Shyamalan Movies Set for Release in 2021 & 2023 at Universal
Shyamalan’s high-concept content has consistently captured the attention of audiences around the world for nearly two decades, having amassed more than $3.3 billion worldwide. His most recent Universal project, Glass, the culmination of his Eastrail 177 Trilogy, garnered nearly $250 million worldwide and opened No. 1 at the box office, remaining in the top spot for three weeks. Split, the second film in the epic series, also debuted at No. 1 and remained there for three weeks in a row during its 2017 release, while 2015’s The Visit brought in close to $100 million at the worldwide box office and was one of the highest-grossing horror films of the year. Having independently financed the three films with a combined production budget of $35 million, Glass, Split and The Visit went on to cumulatively gross more than $600 million worldwide. He will similarly finance his next two films.
