M Night Shyamalan has announced his next directing project: a film called Glass. The film will be a sequel for both Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2017). Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson from Unbreakable, as well as James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy from Split, are set to star.
Shyamalan’s production company Blinding Edge Pictures and Blumhouse Productions will produce, while Universal Pictures will produce/distribute the film. Blumhouse Productions, most well-known for producing low-budget horror films, such as Paranormal Activity, Split and Get Out, has a 10 year first-look deal with Universal, but also has a long-standing relationship with Shyamalan.
Unbreakable, considered a superhero-like thriller film, follows a security guard named David Dunn (Willis) who survives a horrific train crash. Following the accident, he and his wife Audrey Dunn (Robin Wright) begin to notice something is different about him. When he meets a manipulative comic book store owner named Elijah Price (Jackson), he finds that he may have supernatural powers. With Elijah Price having a disease that makes his bones fragile like glass, and David Dunn possessing superhuman powers that make him virtually indestructible, in the end it leads to a emerging rivalry of good vs evil, with Price calling himself ‘Mr. Glass’, reclaiming a childhood nickname.
Last year’s Split was a surprise spin-0ff/sequel to Unbreakable. A supervillian origin story, the tale follows teenager Casey Cooke (Taylor-Joy) and her two friends, who are abducted and held captive by “Dennis”, one of 23 personalities of Kevin Wendell Crumb (McAvoy). Crumb was a victim of childhood abuse, and has been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. In one of the final scenes of the film, Bruce Willis makes a cameo as older David Dunn. In the scene, people are watching news coverage about Crumb, who is being called ‘The Horde’, and Dunn states that he is similar to a villain 15 years previous named ‘Mr. Glass’.
M. Night Shyamalan is also developing a romantic drama/mystery called Labor of Love. He is also an executive producer for TV series Wayward Pines. Shyamalan was nominated for two Oscars for his 1999 film Sixth Sense, starring Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, and Haley Joel Osment.
Meanwhile, look for Willis this summer in Once Upon A Time in Venice with Jason Momoa and John Goodman and First Kill with Hayden Christiansen. Jackson could be seen earlier this year in Kong: Skull Island, and later this year can be seen in comedy The Hitman’s Bodyguard, as well as Brie Larson’s directorial debut Unicorn Store. McAvoy will be seen in Submergence with Alicia Vikander, as well as Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron. Taylor-Joy was seen earlier this year in the Sundance hit Thoroughbred, and will be seen later this year in the horror/thriller Marrowbone.
Look for Glass to hit theaters on January 18, 2019.