M. Night Shyamalan has signed with Warner Bros. for a multi-year first-look directing and producing partnership. As part of the announcement, Shyamalan has announced his next film: Trap.
According to Deadline, the deal was made between Warner Bros. Pictures Group and Blinding Edge Pictures, Shyamalan’s production company, and stipulates that the director and his team create and develop original projects for the distributor’s film divisions, Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema. This includes two of the filmmaker’s forthcoming productions: the aforementioned Trap, which he intends to direct and release in August 2024, and The Watchers, an adaptation of the 2021 horror novel of the same name by A.M. Shine that will also mark the feature directorial debut of his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan. The latter is expected to start filming this year with the elder Shyamalan producing.
“Where I write and direct is my home,” the Knock at the Cabin writer-director shared in a statement. “Disney and Universal, where I’ve made most of my films, will always be home and family to me. Warner Bros. has a storied history of cinema. Through its recent experiences, the company has rediscovered its love and appreciation for filmmakers, and the impact of the theatrical experience. We all win when movies succeed in theaters.”
Along with a focus on theatrical releases that clearly seems to have enticed Shyamalan, the agreement also emphasized Blinding Edge’s ability to find and develop fresh, singular talent. In a joint statement, Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-chairs and CEOs, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, called the Oscar-nominated filmmaker “an auteur in every sense of the word” and “one of the few directors in contemporary cinema whose name alone promises a bold, singular vision, compelling original storytelling and a provocative, surprising and entirely unique experience at the theater.”
The mastermind behind The Sixth Sense has experienced an impressive resurgence over the past few years thanks a series of successful projects including 2021’s beach body-horror flick Old, the Apple TV+ series Servant, which is currently airing its fourth and final season, and the star-studded 2019 Unbreakable/Split sequel, Glass.
Although the ink is still drying on M. Night Shyamalan and Warner Bros. Pictures’ new deal, don’t spend the entire development period for his next project figuring out what exactly happened in his latest effort, Knock at the Cabin. Check out our explainer of its shocking ending here.
