Thought & Theory

Almost everyone knows M. Night Shyamalan’s name. You may or may not have watched any of his movies, but you’ve most likely seen a few of his movie trailers/teasers. I can vividly remember almost every movie trailer for his movies and how excited it made me for that movie. He has a knack for creating captivating trailers but for some reason tapers off on the delivery of an entire movie; most definitely in his last 3-4 attempts. The stats don’t lie (from Rotten Tomatoes):

• The Sixth Sense (1999): 84%
• Unbreakable (2000): 68%
• Signs (2002): 74%
• The Village (2004): 42%
• Lady in the Water (2006): 24%
• The Happening (2008): 15% (current)

So what happened in the last 4 years? He has written, directed, produced and acted in every one of those films. Has he gotten caught up in the media hype? Has his success changed his outlook on film creation? It doesn’t seem to have affected his movie trailers, they still create an incredible buzz. I can’t imagine that Shyamalan wants to have his legacy be great movie trailers and mediocre movies. I know I will be seeing his latest movie, The Happening, but I will be going in with low expectations.

My favorite trailer, Unbreakable:

Sixth Sense Trailer
Signs Trailer
The Village Trailer
Lady in the Water Trailer
The Happening Trailer