UTV to co-produce M Night Shyamalan’s The Happening

UTV Motion Pictures will be co-producing M Night Shyamalan’s next Sci-Fi thriller titled The Happening along with 20th Century Fox.

UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala said, “Night is an immensely talented writer-director. We have developed a great chemistry ever since our first conversation about two months back and I am really glad things  moved fast to allow us to work together. With 20th Century Fox, the number one movie studio in the world and the reputation of having the best marketing and distribution set up in the US and worldwide on board with us, this Sci-Fi thriller is going to get the best worldwide release.”

The Happening is a film focusing on “Earth vs Man” issue sand portraying the environment as the victim of mankind’s villainy.Most of the shooting is currently taking place on the East Coast of America and in Philadelphia, which happens to be Night’s hometown.

“I always had a desire to do something in India, and stay connected to India. This collaboration with UTV is a perfect opportunity to stay connected and cultivate a relationship in India,” said Shyamalan.

UTV’s other two international co-productions with Fox Searchlight Pictures are Mira Nair’s The Namesake and Chris Rock’s I Think I Love My WifeThe Namesake will be released in India on 23 March, whereas the release date of the latter film hasn’t been decided as yet. “We may not have a very bigIndia release of I Think I Love My Wife because it is a very American movie with an Afro-American storyline. In fact we might not release it theatrically in India at all and go straight to DVD. At this point in time we haven’t really decided,” informs Screwvala.

[BusinessofCinema.com]

2 Comments

  1. Very interesting…
    The article also mentions that this will have marketing budget in the US of close to $60 million.

  2. I think its great the Fox will be financing it. They will market and promote the film as it is and I think the film will be a major hit for Shyamalan. If the 60 million dollar amount on the marketing is true, then we will have one helluva trailer! See you in 2008!

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