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Good read.
After reading an article on WWTDD, I thought it would be interesting to document the fall from grace of super-director M. Night Shyamalan. This guy started out so strong and then declined faster than the popularity of the WNBA. According to Rotten Tomato:
41% Wide Awake (1998) (Director, Screenwriter)
65% Stuart Little (1999) (Screenwriter)
85% The Sixth Sense (1999) (Director, Screenwriter)
68% Unbreakable (2000) (Director, Producer)
74% Signs (2002) (Director, Actor, Screenwriter)
43% The Village (2004) (Director, Screenwriter)
24% Lady in the Water (2006) (Director, Actor, Screenwriter)
18% The Happening (2008) (Director, Producer, Screenwriter)
6% The Lady Airbender (2010) (Director, Producer, Screenwriter)
a visual...
What's also interesting is how much money some of his movies made:
Unbreakable - $92,914,916
Signs - $227,935,522
The Village - $114,170,863
Lady in the Water - $42,219,433
The Happening - $64,384,941
Personally, I loved Unbreakable and The Village. I went to the theater to see Signs and enjoyed it, too. I turned off Lady in the Water. I was so pumped for The Happening, but it failed. Does this mean good trailers = big payoffs? again...
The Sixth Sense was his biggest success, but, he stole it...
from Cracked
41% Wide Awake (1998) (Director, Screenwriter)
65% Stuart Little (1999) (Screenwriter)
85% The Sixth Sense (1999) (Director, Screenwriter)
68% Unbreakable (2000) (Director, Producer)
74% Signs (2002) (Director, Actor, Screenwriter)
43% The Village (2004) (Director, Screenwriter)
24% Lady in the Water (2006) (Director, Actor, Screenwriter)
18% The Happening (2008) (Director, Producer, Screenwriter)
6% The Lady Airbender (2010) (Director, Producer, Screenwriter)
a visual...
What's also interesting is how much money some of his movies made:
Unbreakable - $92,914,916
Signs - $227,935,522
The Village - $114,170,863
Lady in the Water - $42,219,433
The Happening - $64,384,941
Personally, I loved Unbreakable and The Village. I went to the theater to see Signs and enjoyed it, too. I turned off Lady in the Water. I was so pumped for The Happening, but it failed. Does this mean good trailers = big payoffs? again...
The Sixth Sense was his biggest success, but, he stole it...
from Cracked
The Sixth Sense was his biggest success, but, he stole it...
from Cracked
Quote:
The Story You Know:
Haley Joel Osment sees dead people, then it is revealed that *SPOILERS* Bruce Willis has been dead the whole time and somehow never notices that other people aren't talking to him. *END SPOILERS*
Quote:
It became one of the highest grossing films of all time and would be nominated for six Oscars, all seemingly on the strength of that one mind-blowing twist. This baffled some critics; after all, wasn't the whole thing just a two hour-long Twilight Zone episode, complete with the gimmicky revelation at the end?
What Inspired It:
The truth is quite a bit stupider than that. This Academy Award-nominated classic was inspired by something off of the same children's television network that introduced the world to Rugrats, Clarissa Explains It All and Doug. Yup, Nickelodeon.
Quote:
It turns out that Shyamalan was one hell of an unofficial member of the Midnight Society in the 90s, since his magnum opus was inspired by an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
The episode in particular, "The Tale of the Dream Girl", is basically the same story as The Sixth Sense except it was written for the same audience that followed Salute Your Shorts.
Quote:
Just like The Sixth Sense, "The Tale of the Dream Girl" tells the story of a kid who is able to eerily and unwillingly communicate with the dead. In this case, his name is Johnny Angelli, and he's portrayed by the same pretty-boy who played Scott Hope on Buffy. At first it appears that Johnny is being stalked by a girl who is clearly way out of his league, but not only does Johnny think that she's dead, there's something strange going on with Johnny. You see, he has this ring which he can't get off his finger, nobody seems to recognize him at work and his mother is so pissed that you would think he wrecked the car, or something.
Only Johnny's sister believes in him. In fact, she's the only person who has really been speaking to him. Oh, and there's this dramatic scene with the ring, and a totally unexpected--because it was original--twist where... well...
Quote:
Five years later, Shyamalan gets nominated for an Academy Award for Best "Original" Screenplay.
Hell, considering the work he's done since then, it might pay for him to get some more Are You Afraid of the Dark episodes on DVD (it had a nice run of seven seasons) and see what else he can dig up.
Quote:
Also, it's worth noting that "The Tale of the Dream Girl" aired on March 26 1994, which means Shyamalan had to be at least 23-years old during that life-changing Saturday night he was at home watching SNICK.
from Cracked
Quote:
The Story You Know:
Haley Joel Osment sees dead people, then it is revealed that *SPOILERS* Bruce Willis has been dead the whole time and somehow never notices that other people aren't talking to him. *END SPOILERS*
Quote:
It became one of the highest grossing films of all time and would be nominated for six Oscars, all seemingly on the strength of that one mind-blowing twist. This baffled some critics; after all, wasn't the whole thing just a two hour-long Twilight Zone episode, complete with the gimmicky revelation at the end?
What Inspired It:
The truth is quite a bit stupider than that. This Academy Award-nominated classic was inspired by something off of the same children's television network that introduced the world to Rugrats, Clarissa Explains It All and Doug. Yup, Nickelodeon.
Quote:
It turns out that Shyamalan was one hell of an unofficial member of the Midnight Society in the 90s, since his magnum opus was inspired by an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
The episode in particular, "The Tale of the Dream Girl", is basically the same story as The Sixth Sense except it was written for the same audience that followed Salute Your Shorts.
Quote:
Just like The Sixth Sense, "The Tale of the Dream Girl" tells the story of a kid who is able to eerily and unwillingly communicate with the dead. In this case, his name is Johnny Angelli, and he's portrayed by the same pretty-boy who played Scott Hope on Buffy. At first it appears that Johnny is being stalked by a girl who is clearly way out of his league, but not only does Johnny think that she's dead, there's something strange going on with Johnny. You see, he has this ring which he can't get off his finger, nobody seems to recognize him at work and his mother is so pissed that you would think he wrecked the car, or something.
Only Johnny's sister believes in him. In fact, she's the only person who has really been speaking to him. Oh, and there's this dramatic scene with the ring, and a totally unexpected--because it was original--twist where... well...
Quote:
Five years later, Shyamalan gets nominated for an Academy Award for Best "Original" Screenplay.
Hell, considering the work he's done since then, it might pay for him to get some more Are You Afraid of the Dark episodes on DVD (it had a nice run of seven seasons) and see what else he can dig up.
Quote:
Also, it's worth noting that "The Tale of the Dream Girl" aired on March 26 1994, which means Shyamalan had to be at least 23-years old during that life-changing Saturday night he was at home watching SNICK.
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