M. Night Shyamalan… You either love his movies or you hate them. With his new film “Glass” (2019) entering theaters this past Friday, we will be discussing M. Night Shyamalan’s past films and his ties to the local Philly area.

M. Night Shyamalan was born in Mahe, Puducherry, India, but was raised in Penn Valley, a suburb outside of Philadelphia since he was six weeks old. Yet another Philly wonder! M. Night Shyamalan is a natural born director. I say ‘a natural born director” because, at the age of six, he received a super 8 camera and made over forty-five movies. That’s insane and dedication if you ask me. I wish I had done that when I was six.

If you are into horror films, The Sixth Sense (1999) was one of M Night Shyamalan’s first films that he both wrote and directed. It was nominated for six academy awards. Just being nominated is a great honor for any filmmaker, actor, actress or screenwriter. The script and rights had cost the studio a whopping $2.25 million dollars. That’s a lot for a script right? With a budget of $40 million (that was a lot of money before inflation today), the film had earned a phenomenal $672.8 million dollars, making it the highest grossing horror film until 2017 when Stephen King’s IT film (2017) had surpassed it, earning $700.4 million.

M Night Shyamalan then had a drastic decline in filmmaking, creating films with good ideas that looked good on paper but failed to impress the audiences. Signs (2001) was my favorite M Knight film. The film had a budget of $72 million and grossed $408 million globally. The film is about a Farmer/ Preacher Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) who finds several mysterious crop circles in his corn fields and also discovering other strange phenomenon occurring around the world. In my opinion, the film had a good concept, good story but I believed the film was rushed in the end and could have developed into something more.

Other films such as The Village (2004), The Happening (2008), and After Earth (2013) are other examples of films that were good on paper but the execution was disappointing to fans. I myself fell victim to this. I do believe these films have the potential and could have evolved into something much more greater than the finished product we received in theaters. The films I believe did a great job in building suspense, tell the story, but I believe that M. Knight’s biggest flaw is his film endings and how he rushed the films.

I believe that M. Knight Shyamalan has the potential to be a great director. After all, he did make one of the highest grossing horror films ever when he was in his early stages of filmmaking. With poor reviews from the critics and only a $20 million budget, the audience has rated the film with average to high reviews. The film is now entering its second week and has already killed it at the box office by earning a total of $95 million worldwide! That’s insane in one week with a low budget. M. Knight I still believe is in a boom and will continue to make thrilling, outstanding and phenomenal films.

Another reason why I love M. Knight Shyamalan is that he loves the city of Philadelphia, and he comes back all the time. On June 3, 2017, peaceful protestors took to the art museum steps to protect the Philly Film small industry and retaining and uncapping the PA Film Tax Credit. M. Knight Shyamalan came and did an entire speech about how Philly is a great city to film, how strong the film community is and how the film community in Philadelphia is growing. He shows a strong and passionate love for both filmmaking and the city of Philadelphia.

What do you think of M. Knight Shyamalan’s films? Do you think he has any flaws in his film executions? Do you think M. Knight is a good director? Do you think I critiqued him too hard? Are you going to watch his new film Glass (2019)?