According to Deadline, James McAvoy (X-Men series reboot) is in talks to replace Joaquin Phoenix (Irrational Man, Inherent Vice) in M. Night Shyamalan’s (The Sixth Sense, Signs) next as-yet-untitled film to be produced by Jason Blum.

Shyamalan has had mixed success finding high box office opening numbers to match his outsized film budgets in recent years. However, the writer-director-producer’s low-budget suspense thriller about youths spending the weekend with their scary grandparents, The Visit, opened solidly at the box office last month.

His upcoming project is still under wraps, but all expectations are that the feature will bear Shyamalan’s trademark supernatural elements with a surprising twist.

McAvoy will be seen next in the upcoming Victor Frankenstein, a re-telling of the monster film, with a focus on the friendship between Vic the scientist (McAvoy) and his assistant Igor (played by Daniel Radcliffe). The film will bow on the day before Thanksgiving, November 25th.