M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening” coming Summer 2008!

We finally got the news we’ve been waiting for, M. Night Shyamalan landed a deal for his next film  at 20th Century Fox! The Studio gave the movie, titled “The Happening,” the green light after Night took the spec script home for a month to do some re-writes. Shyamalan will write and direct the film in Philadelphia this August. Fox has also announced that the film will have a June 2008 release date.

The deal at Fox was lead by Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman & CEO Tom Rothman, but it also reunites Shyamalan with producer Sam Mercer, and “Munich” producer Barry Mendel, who worked with Shyamalan on “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable.”

The Happening” will be Shyamalan’s first R-rated picture, and as you might have already read, it’s a paranoid thriller about a family on the run from a natural crisis that presents a large-scale threat to humanity. Fox gave the project a budget of around $57 million, and Shyamalan has said on The View, and to Daily Variety tha the expects to cast a ‘big’ male star for the lead.

Shyamalan will prep and shoot “The Happening” as he continues to write the script for “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” which will start production over at Paramount afterwards.

After hearing concerns with his spec script (aka “The Green Effect“), Shyamalan returned home to perfect the story. Upon returning to Hollywood with a re-write, several studios offered to green light the film, Shyamalan said. In the end, he decided to make the film at Fox partly because of Rothman’s enthusiasm, as well as the studio’s past experience in marketing similar apocalyptic fare like “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow.”

“Because I’d been so lucky in making successful movies in the past, I was in monogamous relationships with a few studios and the isolation meant I’d never really met anybody,” claims Shyamalan. “Instead of me just being a name, I was a guy in a room. The thing that’s different about me is, when I go out with a script, I am looking for a green light, not some deal where they will develop for two years and then maybe make it.” One palpable change in the film, Shyamalan said, was the decision to dial up the scare factor, thus inviting the R rating.

“Tom felt strongly about making this my first R-rated picture,” Shyamalan said. “We talked about trying to get the kind of intensity that is present in ‘Silence of the Lambs,’ and the kind that Guillermo del Toro got in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth.’ The impact of the beautiful things in that movie wouldn’t have landed as strongly if the film had not been R rated.”

“That is a misconception, and people who work with me know that I’m collaborative,” Shyamalan said. “If you can give me a good idea that can help me to make a better movie, then there is no ego issue in taking that advice. Ultimately, this was a very positive process, and one that will ultimately help in making this movie the best it can be.”

The Happening” starts production August 2007, with a planned release date of June 2008. See you at the movies!

Source: Variety.com

22 Comments

  1. Great, I don't like to see R's, I'll have to wait to see it edited then. I'm pretty bummed.

  2. im so excited that its finally underway.
    even though it will be R rated, im sure it will still have that shyamalan feel and amazingness to it.

  3. AWesome, I can't wait now. I just can't wait. Rated R – for the first time? WOW.. can't wait.

  4. Amazing! I cannot wait to see this, hopefully james newton howard will do the music again, he + shyamalan = gold, no matter what!

  5. so cool. i can't wait. i have like this big silly grin on my face because of how excited i am. yay! R-rated too. i think this'll be soooo great!

  6. @ Mcjansen

    I'm sure James Newton Howard will be back again to team up with Shyamalan.

  7. I AM SOOOOOO EXCITED! :laughing: The anticipation for M. Night's movies are always the best 2 years of my life! I can't wait. “The Happening” sounds amazing…I wonder if it has a twist? :wassat: I don't care if it's rated R. Some of the best movies have that rating. It's also not like he's never been threatened with a R rating before (The Village). This is great! M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN, I LOVE YOU!!! That was awkward… I guess I'm a little too excited. Anyone else agree?

  8. i agree. don't worry, i love him too. :tongue: this just about MADE MY DAY!!! I AM THRILLED!!! the r-rating gives him all kinds of creative direction now. remember, the younger the rating, the more restrictions. who wants to see shyamalan with less restricitons??? ME!!! :laughing:

  9. The good news just keeps rolling in, Linkin Park's new album is out may 15th (shut up, I like them! hehe) and now 'The Happening' is going into production.
    This is AWESOME news, I'm so glad Night did the re-writes.
    We're finally going to see what he can do when he makes a film filled with scares. They've always been present, but only in parts. I'm super excited to see how far he'll go.
    June 2008 is too far away!

  10. This is going to rock! We all know Night can pull tension and fear out of thin air (Signs, The Village). This will be a great tension fest. I can't wait!

  11. I'm so excited. My heart is actually pounding. This is going to be so scary and so AMAZING! It also has a really neat title…its mysterious.

  12. The title is a total throwback to “horror” movies of the 50's and 60's. Love it!

  13. This will be very interesting. Sounds like this might put Night back on the map. But R Rated? Personally, I hope not, but if it is, I am still going to see it no matter what. Of course he hasn't let me down yet, and its a shame “Lady in the Water” wasn't a success, but I have to say congrats Night, and we'll see you in 2008.

  14. I'm absolutely thrilled. Shyamalan said he wants the same intensity of such films as SILENCE OF THE LAMBS or PAN'S LABYRINTH. THE HAPPENING will be intense. Can't wait.

  15. you guys know how that sci-fi doc thing came out before The Village, and that book and commercial came out before Lady in the Water? I wonder if he'll do anything like that for The Happening? That'd be cool.

  16. :crying: Why does “The Happening” have to be rated R. I don't watch R rated movies, and I know a lot of other people who don't. He was doing great with PG13! PLEASE DON'T DO IT!

  17. If he's making a scary movie, it has to be frightening. 'The Happening' is about a possible end to the world, and I'm sure the end of the world won't be PG-13.

  18. why people are so flustered over the r rating is beyond me, really. i mean, so what if it’s rated r, what’s important is how the story is told, so if it needs to be rated r, let it be.

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