At the start of 2023, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan secured a multi-year deal with Warner Bros., and soon after that deal was made, we heard that his first movie for Warner Bros. would be Trap, a “psychological thriller set at a concert”. That project made its way through production toward the end of last year, with lead roles going to Josh Hartnett, fresh off his appearance in Oppenheimer (pictured below), and Shyamalan’s daughter Saleka. The film was aiming for an August 9th release date – but now Warner Bros. has updated their schedule, and in the process they decided to bump Trap up to August 2nd. We’re going to get to see this one a week earlier than expected!
Other release dates newly announced by Warner Bros. (via Deadline) are UNTITLED NL/ATOMIC MONSTER/BLUMHOUSE EVENT FILM, scheduled for April 17, 2026 (that’s the Lee Cronin movie we heard about last night); UNTITLED WB EVENT FILM, scheduled for March 26, 2027; UNTITLED WPBA/LOCKSMITH FILM, scheduled for July 23, 2027; and UNTITLED WB FAMILY SEQUEL, scheduled for December 17, 2027. That line-up is quite a treat for those who like mysterious, untitled projects.
As JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray described the Trap trailer after seeing it at CinemaCon, “Saleka plays a Taylor Swift-style pop star known as Lady Raven, with Josh Harnett’s character attending alongside his daughter. He quickly discovers that the concert is a trap designed to lure a serial killer known as The Butcher, but it turns out that Harnett is the serial killer!” We had previously heard (via FilmUpdates) that Saleka – who is an R&B singer/songwriter – plays “a popstar whose concert is at the heart of the story.” Hartnett’s character is “a father who takes his child to a concert, and unwittingly gets caught up in the surrounding events.” Saleka has recorded songs for her father’s previous projects Old and Servant, but this marks her acting debut.
Hartnett has said that Trap is “very bizarre, very dark, and wild.”
Since Shyamalan produces and finances his own movies, he was able to get a SAG interim agreement for Trap (which filmed under the codename Good Grades) that allowed the project to go into production before the Screen Actors Guild strike wrapped up. His daughter Ishana was also able to get a SAG Interim deal for her feature directorial debut, the gothic fairy tale The Watchers. That film was set up at Warner Bros. as well, and was released last Friday.
Here’s what Shyamalan had to say about Trap in an interview he did with NME a while back: “I have a new idea that I’ve started writing. It’s out in 2024 and it’s very, very exciting. It’s a thriller. It’s very unusual and very new compared to what I’ve been trying to do [recently], but I’m feeling very excited about the story, so much so that I can’t wait to tell it to you guys. I love that feeling, that electricity of ‘wow, I can’t wait for you to see it’. I will say this, the angle into the story is why it’s so exciting. The story might be something that you’ve seen before but the angle is very, very unique – the point of view.“
Are you looking forward to seeing Trap on the big screen, and you glad to hear it’s being released a week earlier than previously scheduled? Let us know by leaving a comment below.