Come join the Warner Brothers and the Warner sister Dot.

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24night.jpe Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan (better known by his first initial and/or his chosen middle name “Night”) has fled the magic kingdom.

Walt Disney has lost one of its brightest directors, M Night Shyamalan, to Warner Bros. Shyamalan was also one of its biggest moneymakers. His four films in a row for Disney have grossed?over $2 3 billion worldwidein theatrical receipts and video sales.
Creative differences over Shyamalan’s new project, Lady In The Water, led to the parting, Hollywood’s trade papers reported.

The uber-talented Philadelphian is a unique force in Hollywood; even his…um…critic-deemed flops (ahem, “The Village“) earn almost a quarter of a billion dollars worldwide. Speaking of that paranthetically mentioned flick, no major stars lent pixie dust to that production. As the linked article notes, it was our boy Manoj who drew moviegoers in, and that’s something that deserves props.

Shyamalan has steadily built a reputation for making films on medium size budgets of $50-$75 million by offering the stars part of the film’s gross. There was speculation last year that Fox had offered him to direct the Booker Prize winning novel Life Of Pi the studio had acquired about three years ago.

Perhaps he’ll cast someone vaguely Asian-looking to play pool-named protagonist Piscene Molitor Patel. One fervently hopes. After all, that comment thread is FUN.

I’ll close by enclosing the following priceless tidbit; apparently Rediff knows something about Pennsylvania that we don’t.

Shyamalan’s first film, a coming of age cross-cultural story, was shot in India. His subsequent films have been made in his home state of Philadelphia. The new movie would also be shot there. But if he takes up Life Of Pi, which has some of its crucial sequences set in India, he might have to visit the country of his birth and shoot there after nearly 14 years.

Hey, that’s fine with me. Philly’s the only part of PA I go to… 😉

20 thoughts on “Come join the Warner Brothers and the Warner sister Dot.”

  2. It’s not a small world after all.

    Since our Mr. Shyamalan has a yen for bit parts in his own films, whom is he going to portray in The Life Of Pi? The zebra, hyena and orangutan present novel choices.

  4. whom is he going to portray in The Life Of Pi? The zebra, hyena and orangutan present novel choices.

    Perhaps the inflatable raft, to represent his id.

  7. you directed something like “the sixth sense” TOO??

    Because you’re only as good as your fifth-oldest movie.

  8. if your fifth-oldest flick is “sixth sense”, hell fucking yeah.

    i’ve NEVER experienced that kind of twist since…besides, mischa’s in it. duh. 😀

  9. Sluggo, you gotta admit, the guy has a knack for suspense and cinematography; and while his Hitchcock-esque late-inning plot twists are getting a little tired and predictable, it’s a decent gimmick to draw moviegoers.

  11. Rajesh, I will admit that ‘The Sixth Sense’ was a well written, well directed, and well acted film. I was skeptical with ‘Unbreakable’ but I liked it also. ‘Signs’ was pathetically stupid and I figured out the Village a 1/3 of the way into it; M. Night does have talent I’m not denying that what so ever…but uber-talented no…

    oh, word? you directed something like “the sixth sense” TOO?? 😉

    Say baby, can I be your slave I’ve got to admit girl, you’re the shit girl And I’m diggin’ you like a grave Now do they call you daughter to the spinnin post, or Or maybe Queen of 2,000 moons Sister to the distant, yet risin’ star Is your name Yimmy-Ya Oh hell nah, it’s got to be Oshun Ooo, is that a smile me put on your face child Wide as a field of Jasmine and Glover Talk that talk honey, walk that walk money Hound legs that’ll spank Jehovah Shit, who am I? It’s not important But they call me brother to the Night And right now I’m the blues in your left thigh Tryin to become the funk in your right Who am I? I’ll be whoever you say But right now, I’m the sight raped hunter Blindly pursuing you as my prey And I just wanna give you injections, of sublime erections And get you to dance to my rhythm Make you dream archaetypes, of black angels in flight Upon wings, of distorted, contorted, metaphoric jism Come on slim Fuck yo’ man, I ain’t worried about him It’s you who I wanna step to my scene Cause rather than deal with the fallacy Of this dry ass reality I rather dance and romance your sweet ass, in a wet dream Who am I? Well they all call me brother to the Night And right now, I’m the blues in your left thigh Trying to become the funk in your right Is that alright

    In my mind I’m a uber talented director 😛

  15. Wait, I’m confused. Are you saying you directed Love Jones?

    If so, in accordance with the history of this site and famous people, I’m gonna need to get your e-mail address and contact information.

  18. Well, he sure as hell had something to do with this uber-flop : The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan

    It aired last summer on Sci-Fi Channel just before The Village hit theaters, it was a “documentary” starring M. Night Shyamalan, very painful to watch and… well, here’s an excerpt from Answers.com :

    “…A recent ‘documentary’ about his life, aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, claimed that Shyamalan was legally dead for nearly a half hour while drowned in a frozen pond in a childhood accident, and that upon being rescued he has had experiences of communicating with spirits. The Sci-Fi Channel also claimed that Shyamalan had grown angry when he had discovered that the documentary would reveal certain personal secrets, and had therefore withdrawn from participating. The Sci-Fi Channel later admitted that both the ‘documentary’ itself and Shyamalan’s objections to it were part a hoax, perpetrated with Shyamalan’s participation.”

    Other than that, he’s good at what he does and I’m glad to see he’s switching focus with “Life of Pi” (speaking of that, Dean Georgaris, not Shyamalan, is writing the adaptation for this film).

  20. 5 · Sluggo said

    Uber-talented
    If he’s uber talented then so am I Anna 🙂

    I AM ACTOR I AM LOOKING FOR WORK