Follow up on a success like 1999 The sixth sense It must have been a daunting task for M. Night Shyamalan Buena Vista Pictures, which distributed his hit film, was preparing to release his next film. The sixth sense The film became the second-highest-grossing film of 1999, grossing $672 million worldwide, and was even an awards season player, receiving six Academy Award nominations. For his next film, Shyamalan wanted to do something completely different, which led to the director and studio disagreeing over the film's marketing.
Released in 2000, Unbreakable It was supposed to be Shyamalan's version of the superhero's origin story, but the director revealed that the studio was afraid to market the film like a comic book movie and instead tried to make it look like a thriller horror film, just like The sixth senseDuring a chat with GQ magazine to promote his latest film, trapShyamalan detailed the reasons why Buena Vista Pictures executives were afraid to market the film. Unbreakable As a movie adapted from a comic book.
Although the market is flooded with comic book movies now, many of which have been hugely successful, this wasn't quite the case when Unbreakable The film was scheduled to be released in cinemas. Movies like code and X-Men These films were the exception rather than the rule at the time, so the studio was reluctant. Instead, they chose to promote the film as if it were similar to The sixth sensea move made easier given that Bruce Willis was also starring in Shyamalan's next film.
“If you deny what this movie is because you’re afraid it’s different, you’re stealing all its power. They said, ‘We made one of the biggest movies ever, and the same two guys are making another one. Let’s make it look like this movie.’ It’s not what it was, which was the beginning of a whole genre. They didn’t realize that because they were too afraid to say the word ‘comic book.’”
Marketing made Unbreakable look like a horror movie.
If you remember the marketing campaign for Unbreakable Or if you’re willing to take a quick trip to YouTube, it’s clear that the studio has done some bait and switch when it comes to promoting the film. The trailers give the impression that the film has horror elements and don’t really suggest that the project is primarily a superhero origin story. If audiences were hoping for another film similar to The sixth senseShyamalan believes they were a little disappointed when the film was first released.
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“There were other people coming in and going, ‘That wasn’t scary!’ And I was like, ‘Who said it would be? Who said it would be scary?’ And it was, [I learned] “A really interesting lesson, if I'm going to be an original storyteller in my life, I have to have partners who understand that we're going to create something new every time, and we have to celebrate that.”
Unbreakable The film follows David Dunn (Willis), a man who is not only the sole survivor of a devastating train crash, but also survives the accident with no physical injuries. David soon realizes that he has supernatural abilities, which puts him in the crosshairs of Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a disabled comic book store owner who begins to manipulate David for his own gain. The film also stars Robin Wright and Spencer Treat Clark.
While the film was not a critical or financial success as it was The sixth senseThe film received a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $248.1 million worldwide on a $75 million budget, and was positively reviewed as one of Shyamalan's best films. Corrective reviews also noted, as Shyamalan intended, that the film was an early example of the then-emerging superhero genre, with some sense of being a superhero film. Unbreakable She was ahead of her time in many ways.
Unbreakable
It is currently streaming on Max and Hulu.
