Now, I understand the hate that M. Night Shyamalan gets from people, I do. His last few films have…not been very good, to say the least. THE HAPPENING, AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, AFTER EARTH, even THE VISIT is divisive at best.
But, I'll go on record in saying I think the man still has talent, and feel that he may be in for a comeback. I mean I, like most people loved SIXTH SENSE, but I also think UNBREAKABLE is one of the best superhero movies ever made, and will even go to bat (literally) for SIGNS and even LADY IN THE WATER (even if I'm aware that me and Shyamalan are the only two people who like that movie).
Which brings us to his newest project, an animated comedy at FOX he's developing called ELEVEN LITTLE INDIANS. According to Variety the show will examine:
three branches of a large Indian family — one has achieved the American dream; another has just arrived in the U.S. wide-eyed; and the third has gone off the rails.
This will be the third TV show Shyamalan has helped develop, the first being WAYWARD PINES on FOX, and the second being the TALES FROM THE CRYPT reboot on TNT. He is currently developing ELEVEN LITTLE INDIANS with FAMILY GUY writer Alex Carter.
Like I said, I'm rooting for Shyamalan. Even in the films that are not very good (like the aforementioned HAPPENING and THE LAST AIRBENDER) they have, in my opinion, good scenes or moments in them (there is some creepy imagery in HAPPENING with everyone committing suicide, and AIRBENDER has some great SFX…though not much else). So I'm hopeful that those past failures have humbled Shyamalan to seek more input and collaboration (the fact he's working with another writer is a good sign, even if I personally hate FAMILY GUY with the heat of a thousand suns). I also like that it's focusing on an Indian family, which is something we haven't really seen often before. I mean, the only thing that comes to mind is Apu's family from THE SIMPSONS – but that's far from the most enlightened view of Indian life in America.
No release date set for the animated series, but Shyamalan has SPLIT coming to theaters January 20th, 2017.
So what do you guys think? You willing to give Shyamalan a seventeenth chance? And how would you rank his films?