Shyamalan Confirms Proper Sequel for Unbreakable
We’ve been waiting 17 years for M. Night Shyamalan to deliver a very specific piece of news: He is making a sequel to Unbreakable. The writer-director confirmed today via Twitter after months of teasing us.
In a series of tweets, Shyamalan revealed that the film is called Glass, which will bring back Bruce Willis as David Dunn and Samuel L. Jackson as Mr. Glass/Elijah Price.
“It’s taken 17 years but I can finally answer the #1 question I get, ‘Are you making a f#&@ing sequel to Unbreakable or what?’ ” Shyamalan tweeted. “My new film is the sequel to #Unbreakable AND #Split. It was always my dream to have both films collide in this third film.”
Unbreakable premiered in 2000, a year after The Sixth Sense sky-rocketed Shyamalan to stardom. The movie is an introspective deconstruction of the superhero genre. It’s a gem of a movie, and regarded as Shyamalan’s best works.
After a decade of stale to just plain bad releases (with the exception of The Visit), Shyamalan came out with a surprise hit with his latest movie Split, starring James McAvoy. It earned critical praise and more than $275 million worldwide on a $9 million budget. But that’s not the biggest surprise.
[Warning: spoilers ahead for Split.]
Split centers around James McAvoy who plays a kidnapper with 23 multiple personalities. He kidnaps three girls, one of them being Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke. Trapped, Casey has to figure out how to find a way out before the coming of a mysterious entity known only as The Beast.
Shyamalan pulls off perhaps his greatest twist yet, and it’s not the reveal of a 24th personality possessing super-human abilities.
It is revealed in the last remaining minutes of the film that the world of Unbreakable and the world of Split are one and the same. During a news report following Casey’s escape, a woman in a diner is reminded of another villain but couldn’t remember what the news dubbed him. A slight shift of the camera’s angle reveals Bruce Willis’ character, David Dunn, saying that the woman was thinking of Mr. Glass (Jackson).
This revelation alone, made Split something of a “ninja sequel” to Unbreakable.
On top of there being a sequel to Unbreakable and Split, Shyamalan also revealed that both McAvoy and Taylor-Joy will reprise their characters for the third movie, which will be titled Glass. According to Universal, “Glass finds Dunn pursuing Crumb’s superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.”
Glass is scheduled to release January 18, 2019. It will be produced by Shyamalan and Jason Blum, with Ashwin Rajan and Marc Bienstock, and Steven Schneider, who will executive produce.
You can catch Shyamalan’s full announcement below:
It’s taken 17 years but I can finally answer the #1 question I get, “Are you making a f#&@ing sequel to Unbreakable or what?”
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
My new film is the sequel to #Unbreakable AND #Split. It was always my dream to have both films collide in this third film.
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
The iconic Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
The incomparable @SamuelLJackson will return as Elijah Price/Mr. Glass
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
The virtuoso #JamesMcAvoy returns as Kevin Wendell Crumb, Patricia, Dennis, Hedwig, Barry, Jade, Orwell, The Beast, Heinrich, Norma, Pol-
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
And the prodigy, @AnyaTaylorJoy will return as Casey Cooke
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
I’m reteaming with my partners @jason_blum and @Universalpics for this crazy comic book thriller.
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
And the film is called GLASS…
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
Universal Pictures will release #Glass on January 18, 2019 all over the world. How’s that for not keeping a secret!
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
Source: Hollywood Reporter