M. Night Shyamalan’s Divisive Thriller Finds Streaming Success After $82 Million Box Office

M.Night Shyamalan
continues to work regularly in the thriller genre, delivering films with unpredictable narratives and major twists. The filmmaker’s work in this genre dates back more than 25 years and his debut film The Sixth Sense (1999), still presents one of the biggest narrative twists of his career. Not long after that seminal film, he released popular films such as Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), and The village (2004).

However, Shyamalan didn’t slow down in the 2010s and 2020s and asserted his commitment to the thriller genre with titles like To divide (2016), Glass (2019), Old (2021), and Hit the booth (2023). However Many of Shyamalan’s films became box office hits due to their modest budgets (which Shyamalan often self-finances), they are also sometimes divisive for audiences, with viewers divided over the effectiveness of the narratives and twists. Shyamalan’s latest film certainly falls into this camp.

Trap goes beyond mixed reviews to achieve streaming success

Only two titles surpassed Shyamalan’s last film

After a divisive reception earlier this year, Shyamalan’s speech Trap became a huge success on streaming. Starring Josh Hartnett as Cooper, the 2024 thriller follows a father and his teenage daughter as they attend a pop concert only to discover that the event is part of a scheme to capture a serial killer. As revealed by the trailers, Cooper turns out to be the killer in question. Trap reviews were mixed and the film currently only has a 58% critic score and a 65% audience rating on Rotten tomatoesbut it was a modest box office success, grossing $82.7 million worldwide.

New data from Reelgood now reveals that Trap is ranked as the third most popular movie streaming for the week of October 24-30. The film, which is now streaming on Max, outperforms titles like Agatha all the time (2024), Don’t move (2024), The Penguin (2024), and Disclaimer (2024), but falls short of both Only murders in the building (2021–) and Woman of the hour (2024). Node Reelgood graph that analyzes only films, Trap does even better, coming in second place. Check out the table of the 10 best films and TV shows below:

What Trap’s streaming success means for the film

Will there be a trap 2?

In keeping with many of Shyamalan’s films, the Trap the ending largely closes the door on this particular story, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be making a sequel. Made with an estimated budget of around US$30 million, the film likely managed to break even (especially with VOD performance taken into account), but Shyamalan has already moved on to his next project. In an Instagram post in September, Shyamalan shared an image of a red notebook and joked that he will use it to jot down ideas for his 17th feature film.

TrapShyamalan’s streaming success, however, shows Shyamalan’s continued power as a filmmaker, as his name alone can attract audiences. The film’s marketing was effective and those who missed it in theaters are evidently now checking it out at home. Although TrapWhile Shyamalan’s reviews may not have been glowing, the film’s performance bodes well for Shyamalan’s next project.

Source: Reelgood