M. Night Shyamalan filmography

Indian-American filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan wrote, directed, and starred in his first project, the independent film Praying with Anger, while he was a student at New York University; inspired by his cultural upbringing, the movie was released in 1992 and earned him praise at film festivals.^[1][2] His next film, the comedy-drama Wide Awake about a grieving child struggling with his Catholic faith, was completed in 1995 but shelved by the studio Miramax until 1998.^[3][4] During this period, he did an uncredited rewrite of the script for the romantic-comedy She's All That that allegedly "got the movie green-lit" and co-wrote the live-action/animated film Stuart Little (both released in 1999).^[5][6] Also in 1999, he wrote and directed the supernatural drama The Sixth Sense, starring Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient claims he can see and talk to the dead. The three projects were commercially successful, with The Sixth Sense becoming the second-highest grossing film of the year and earning Shyamalan international attention and name recognition from critics and audiences and Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.^[7][8]

He reunited with Willis on the thriller Unbreakable about a seemingly average man, David Dunn, who learns he has superhuman abilities. The film co-starred Samuel L. Jackson and was released in 2000. Like Unbreakable, his science-fiction thriller Signs (2002) and period drama The Village (2004) found financial success and solidified him as a filmmaker known for his twist endings and cameo appearances.^[9][10][11] The next decade, however, saw a series of critical misfires with Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), and the higher-budgeted The Last Airbender (2010) and After Earth (2013).^[12] In 2015, he had a career resurgence after partnering with Universal Pictures on the found footage horror film The Visit, which made $98.5 million on a $5 million budget he self-funded by taking out a loan against his estate.^[13] He worked with Universal again on Split (2016) and its sequel Glass (2019), which with Unbreakable comprise the Eastrail 177 Trilogy; Old (2021); and Knock at the Cabin (2023).^[14] He partnered with Warner Bros. Pictures for his latest films: Trap (2024) and Remain (2027).^[15] Since The Visit, he has partly self-financed his films.^[16] In television, he directed the pilot of Wayward Pines (2015) and showran Servant (2019–2023).