M KNIGHT's The Happening

If this film follows the path, it could make $95,000,000

UNREAKABLE went Worldwide w/

$248,118,121

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Interesting note on the international grosses of Night's films.

Foreign Box Office (Orange shows where International B.O. was greater) :

Unbreakable - $153,106,782


The Sixth Sense - $379,300,000


Signs - $180,281,283


The Village - $142,500,000


Lady in the Water - $30,500,000

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My perception is that the films that one may consider not typical 'Popcorn' American films are obvious. This goes back to my spin on De Palma and Tarantino cruising in the same lane in directorial style.

This also points to the love hate phenom I see with these 3 dudes in particular. I find their style of filmmaking much more auteuristic than a Michael Bay, Bryan Singer, Peter Jackson (although Heavenly Creatures is phenomenally different than his other works) or a Nolan.


I wish the detractors of Night would take a hard look at Night's visual and storytelling style. It is advanced with a higher understanding of the language than countless others working right now.

With the Ebert quote in mind and Sean's post, his films are much deeper than what is on the surface and I think most are missing this.


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Maybe Shyamalan is more like a Tarkovsky. Most of today's North American audiences would be really unsatisfied if they paid $12 to see Tarkovsky when they were expecting something more like The Incredible Hulk, or even 6th Sense. I still have to see The Happening (debating about whether my money is better spent on the DVD rental), but if you took away the star casting and all the hype, maybe he's really more of a Tarkovsky and should simply take all his bags of money and go make smaller films without stars. We probably wouldn't be nearly as critical on another filmmaker who made The Happening on an HVX with a handful of unknown actors. Maybe Shyamalan hasn't admitted to himself he just wants to make art.
 
J.R. Hudson said:
I wish the detractors of Night would take a hard look at Night's visual and storytelling style. It is advanced with a higher understanding of the language than countless others working right now.[/IMG]
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I don't deny his directing skills. He's a very competent director. His writing skills aren't up to par with his directing skills. The same can be said for Scorsese and De Palma. Depalma with a bad script will make a bad film with some good directing flourishes. I don't find the films as deep as you say. I think his messages tend to be on the nose. I do think it's silly to like everything he's done and think of him as the second coming.
 
Zac, what is your relationship with M. Night. Dunno if you are under NDA or not, but it sounds as if you know him personally. Which is great. I don't have the pleasure of knowing him or anyone that has worked with him. So I can't comment with on-set stuff.

I just got back from seeing it. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Before I go on, I think Zooey is very attractive. But then again I have something for girls with black hair...haha, her, Lizzy Caplan (when her hair isn't blonde). I think she is very attractive in the "girl next door" way. Maybe that is my kind of girl. No idea.

I personally think Marks character could have been casted better. I just didn't see Mark playing it. Though I do agree with the long singles. I have to watch it again to pick it apart. But the end scene, long shots, both singles, still was really cute.

It's an interesting premise. I personally would have done it differently. However, I have not been able to land a high budget contract. (Yet)

The reason he sells is because he is M. Night. He makes money on opening weekend. That's why he gets money. Hollywood is a business. Fight it all you want, but it is.

Overall I think I lean towards liking the film. Much better than Lady in the Water. There was suspense, and Betty Buckley's character was insanely creepy.

M. Night took a lot of new moves in this one. It was interesting.

And needless to say, I feel kinda safe now. My neighbors tree is...how do you say...dead? So if they (the trees) fight the good fight, my neighbors tree would fail miserably.
 
Ok here we go.

This film is just not worth the price of admission and here's why.

Plot: Starts off with this might be interesting plot but quickly dissolves once characters start speaking. The rest of the film is left in chaos and no where to go just like characters. Eventually it gives up and runs out of steam several times before becoming a half ass comic attempt. Forced story that end quickly with television accounts foreshadowing this as if Night was trying to make War Of the Worlds but nothing physical to to attach what was happening except that plants were fighting back... but why? I mean obvious global warming etc etc. but why end their attack within 24 hours? to prove what point plus the epilogue shows no repercussions other than two people getting together to make a family, whose' life was already in jeopardy over cake. Just seem pointless and these two character were pointless for a story to be involved with. She wasn't ready to be a mother then she was after taking care of the girl. big whoop, next story please. terrible. Also the pointless supporting character beside John L. who I think got his up-coming's WAY TOO EARLIER, I would have rather followed him.

Direction: I don't really know what he was going for. It was a film-school film at best with maybe hidden meanings but driven towards nothing. putting people in chaos for sake of chaos with no resolution or a non compelling one doesn't make character arc's. Mark W. character did rise to the event, it's established this is what he does problems solve and teach. the end. nothing happened and of course the film doesn't end the event keeps happening with no resolution. The worst part was you have John L. acting really really great with the other's play characture's of people. I've said this was the problem with LITW, people were stereotype characture's such as the scared white man, the black man single with one child, the overly racists chinese family who slowly remember old chinese riddle, the hispanic family of 30 living in one apartment, and the indian couple who happen to be normal writer or doctors. The movie is a comedy at best. the zooey girl was a miscast or she was just over the top and not dramatic. He didn't know what he wanted and it went no where and ended with nothing. Poor direction. running from wind can only be entertaining for NEVER, unless it's twister and cows are flying.

Cinematography: Average at best. Shot mostly in Day Light so that shows me no money was really involved. Just nothing stylish.

Editing: Average nothing bothersome.

Deaths: The first few are chilling but then it becomes like a joke. Like when the officer kills him self and then the taxi cab driver gets out and picks up his gun and kills him self then another woman comes over and kills her self. I started to giggle and that nonsense. The only other thing that made me give any response to was the fact he had kids who were suppose to be like 15 or 16 get shot gun blasts to the head. now if this film were better i would have been shocked but I was shocked in what poor taste it was. The film had become so funny that when it happened it mad me laugh.

Acting: Poor mistakenly funny and poor dialogue makes everyone one look stupid except for John L. who was great or his short time on camera. I give it up for him.

Wind and plants: stupid... in a world trying to go green this film shows what happens when they fight back. but people want to know what's happening or they will feel cheat as in the audience i mean. Granted i know what he was trying to do but you can't make a movie about it with out making a reason out of it.

Obvious dick head moves: He credits himself as Joey, can't not be someone in a movie eh hitchCOCK? also small promotion of Avatar on a backpack at the end. If you don't have an ego, well it shows on film Get over yourself.

Career: He stopped me with SS and unbreakable but I think I can no longer trust him as an enertainer. I've seen all his films in the theater and I think this is the last one for me..

Unentertaing besides seeing a laughable mistake of film that barely had any funding make it out the door watch this for what not what to do and well just snicker I did.

Is this worst than the mist? I think so but both sucked. is this his worst film.... not sure but i can't trust him as a filmmaker anymore and I just had it with him. you let me down and this is the 4th strike.
 
Oh wow, it appears that this movie is dead in the water. 30 million?? The movie opened on Friday with 13 million. That's a projected 40 million dollar opening if it can hold those numbers all three days. It looks like Night has a dwindling loyal audience that came out Friday (kind of like comic book movies) and then it just tanked from there. 10 mill saturday and 7 million sunday. This movie will be lucky to make it to 70 mil. Airbender is in trouble.

This is for Zak, who's big on Night's box office numbers. :)
 
this is a perfect example of what i'm talking about. you WANT it to tank so you can continue to besmirch m. night. but take a good look, c.g. it's nearly made its budget back in three days. And int'l will be about equal to the domestic take when the theatrical release has run its course. then you have DVD and Blu-ray sales. And for this reason M. Night will continue to make movies whether we few aspiring filmmakers like them or not.
c.g._eads said:
Airbender is in trouble.
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:) remember you said this. two years will have gone by when The Last Airbender comes out in June of 2010. and it will be PG with a faithful Nickelodeon audience behind it.
 
Zak Forsman said:
this is a perfect example of what i'm talking about. you WANT it to tank. so you say it tanked. but take a good look, c.g. it's nearly made its budget back in three days. And int'l will be about equal to the domestic take. then you have DVD and Blu-ray sales. And for this reason M. Night will continue to make movies whether we few aspiring filmmakers like them or not.


remember you said this. two years will have gone by when The Last Airbender comes out. and it will be PG with a faithful Nickelodeon audience behind it.
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I won't be surprised if they pull the plug. They did the same to Jon Favreau on Jon Carter of Mars when Zathura tanked. I also won't be surprised if it gets made, although I question the audience for this. Don't doubt there are fans, but enough to support a giant blockbuster? And the title is stupid, not interesting enough to pull in non-fans. Someone had a mock tagline in another forum that made me laugh..."Before the airbender, we had straight air!"
 
Batutta said:
I won't be surprised if they pull the plug. They did the same to Jon Favreau on Jon Carter of Mars when Zathura tanked. I also won't be surprised if it gets made, although I question the audience for this. Don't doubt there are fans, but enough to support a giant blockbuster? And the title is stupid, not interesting enough to pull in non-fans. Someone had a mock tagline in another forum that made me laugh..."Before the airbender, we had straight air!"
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do you have kids?

Jon being fired was the "rumor", but later we learned he actually left the project (which had stalled for rewrites) to take the Iron Man gig. and he was the third director to do so -- Robert Rodriguez being the first director attached that changed his mind because of a guild dispute and passed. then the director of Sky Captain left and no one knows why but him. after Favreau, Brad Bird (The Incredibles) was attached and THEN Paramount pulled the plug on the whole thing to put their focus on a different big budget sci-fi picture -- JJ Abrams' Star Trek.
 
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Zak Forsman said:
do you have kids?
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Yes...Look, I don't doubt there is SOME audience, but what little I know of it means the budget is probably going to be north of 150 million dollars. For that kind of movie to succeed you can't just have a niche audience, even if it's a sizeable one. It has to appeal to everyone across the board...All I'm saying is I don't think the suits are going to look at this as a sure thing, so I can see them pulling out for many reasons. But they may not.
 
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boxofficemojo lists its budget at 60 mil. i'm assuming that's without marketing, which is probably another 40 mil. Even if this movie makes it to 75 million (which I'd say is optimistic), I don't think you'd find a studio executive in town who would tell you that a 75 million dollar take on a summer event movie is anything other than a huge letdown. Sure, it might scrape out a profit someday after everything is said and done, but that's what everybody always says after their movie opens bad ("Well, somwhere down the line. DVD releases..."). According to the books, to this day, Forest Gump still hasn't made a profit. So I don't think it's as much as a given as you think.

The reason I bring it up is because whenever I try to point out that m. night's a hack (which I truly believe he is), his defenders always point to his box office. Well, I'm merely showing them that he doesn't even have that on his side anymore.

If he wants to shut me up, it's quite simple. Make good movies. That's all. Make good movies. I think you would agree with me more if you actually saw some of these films. You might realize why the majority of people who watch his films hate them so much.
 
c.g._eads said:
boxofficemojo lists its budget at 60 mil. i'm assuming that's without marketing, which is probably another 40 mil. Even if this movie makes it to 75 million (which I'd say is optimistic), I don't think you'd find a studio executive in town who would tell you that a 75 million dollar take on a summer event movie is anything other than a huge letdown. Sure, it might scrape out a profit someday after everything is said and done, but that's what everybody always says after their movie opens bad ("Well, somwhere down the line. DVD releases..."). According to the books, to this day, Forest Gump still hasn't made a profit. So I don't think it's as much as a given as you think.
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You're forgetting foreign box office, which these days is starting to edge out the domestic numbers on a regular basis. Indiana Jones has made 265 domestic, and 327 foreign.
 
Batutta said:
Yes...Look, I don't doubt there is SOME audience, but what little I know of it means the budget is probably going to be north of 150 million dollars. For that kind of movie to succeed you can't just have a niche audience, even if it's a sizeable one. It has to appeal to everyone across the board...All I'm saying is I don't think the suits are going to look at this as a sure thing, so I can see them pulling out for many reasons.
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it's $250 million to produce all three films.
 
well the series start 3 years ago hopefully it fan base will stay around another 2 years if not interest will dwindle. also if the first one tanks.... ooooh... ERAGON STYLE....
 
the cost of making the picture was split 50/50 between Fox and UTV (in India). Fox distributes domestically and internationally while UTV distributes in India. so even at $40mil domestic, Fox already has the budget back.

i don't need to see the film to talk about the business of making movies. :) and i don't feel like i'm defending night so much as i'm promoting the reality of the business.
 
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Zak Forsman said:
it's $250 million to produce all three films.
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EVEN WORSE!!! If the first one tanks, they'll take a bath on all of them...I hope it works out, but many things here would give me pause as a studio exec. 1) The material, despite its popularity among kids, does not have much name recognition among teens and adults. 2) M. Night has no experience with big action set-pieces 3) M. Night hasn't fared too well outside of thrillers with twist endings. His brand-name won't help much here. 4) The material skews pretty young...God be with them, but if I was Paramount, I'd be looking in the direction of The Golden Compass and sweating bulllets.
 
Zak Forsman said:
sorry. don't take it personally. the cost of making the picture was split 50/50 between Fox and UTV (in India). Fox distributes domestically and internationally while UTV distributes in India. so even at $40mil domestic, Fox already has the budget back.

i don't need to see the film to talk about the business of making movies.
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Okay, if you want to get technical you can bring in ditribution and marketing fees, which are huge. Distribution itself, how after that first weekend, the theatres get a 50/50 split of the profits. You can talk about legal fees and Night's probably huge backend participation. Blah blah blah. But even if for some reason you can defend a 75 million dollar take for a summer movie, the reality still stands. This is the only reason why Night is still able to make films. Because his movies, comparitively, don't cost as much. That is why they won't give him 130 million dollars to make a Airbender. It's too big of a gamble for a director of his ability.

no, I wasn't saying you needed to see the movie to talk about the business aspect. What I said was: you pointed out that I seemed like I was out to get him. I was merely saying that if you saw these movies, you'd understand better why. They really are *that* bad.
 
Batutta said:
EVEN WORSE!!! If the first one tanks, they'll take a bath on all of them...I hope it works out, but many things here would give me pause as a studio exec. 1) The material, despite its popularity among kids, does not have much name recognition among teens and adults. 2) M. Night has no experience with big action set-pieces 3) M. Night hasn't fared too well outside of thrillers with twist endings. His brand-name won't help much here. 4) The material skews pretty young...God be with them, but if I was Paramount, I'd be looking in the direction of The Golden Compass and sweating bulllets.
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they arent making them all at once. and i'm guessing the first one has the lower of the three budgets. and they have TWO YEARS to elevate Avatar's awareness level with the public.

just to bring this full circle... a friend of mine was a writer for the show. he has an Emmy from it that can be seen in the background of a party scene in Heart of Now.
 
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