DirectorM. Night Shyamalantook his business to Warner Bros. last year following a long and fruitful partnership with Universal, which concluded with the moderately well-reviewed underperformerKnock at the Cabin. His first release under this new arrangement was the thrillerTrap, starringJosh Hartnett,Ariel Donaghue, and his daughter,Saleka Night Shyamalan. The movie did reasonably well at the box office, but earned mixed reviews. But, a year after its release,everybody involved has a new reason to celebrate.Trapis the latest film to joinLetterboxd’s “one million watched club,” meaning that over one million users on the movie logging application have watched it.
Over 500 films have passed this milestone, whileonly six titles have been watched by more than five million Letterboxd users. Themost-watched movie on the platform remainsBarbie, with over 5.7 million views.Trapmade a little over $80 million worldwidein its theatrical run, againsta reported budget of $30 million. It followed a serial killer played by Hartnett, who realizes that the pop concert he’s attending with his teenage daughter is actuallyan elaborate trapset up by the police to nab him. The movie plays like a particularly inventive level of the Hitman video games, where the serial killer uses every trick up his sleeve toevade capture.
Trapis currently sitting at a “rotten” 57% score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “An arch thriller given some grounding by Josh Hartnett’s committed performance, Shyamalan’sTrapwill ensnare those who appreciate its tongue-in-cheek style while the rest will be eager to wriggle out from it.”In his review, Collider’sRoss BonaimedescribedTrapas a “flawed project,” and wrote, “Instead of garnering oohs or ewws in the theater,Trapis the type of film that moves Shyamalan’s name showing up on a project closer and closer to an indifferent shrug.”
Shyamalan Is Putting Together Another Ambitious Project
Trapis Shyamalan’s third film to enter Letterboxd’s one million club, followingThe Sixth Sense(1.7 million views) andSplit(2.3 million views). Shyamalan is now putting together a supernatural romantic thriller titledRemain. StarringJake GyllenhaalandPhoebe Dynevor, the movie is being crafted as a joint project with authorNicholas Sparks, who is concurrently writing a book based on the same story.Remainwill be released in October this year. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Trap is a film by writer-director M. Night Shyamalan under his Blinding Edge Pictures label. The film is part of a deal struck with Warner Bros for him to direct and produce several films under their banner.
