Before making a significant return to mainstream with 2016’s Split, acclaimed filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan was stuck in a rut. After delivering hits and modern classics like Signs and The Sixth Sense, the director helmed a slate of movies that were neither well-received by critics nor box office hits. One of them was The Happening, a thriller starring Mark Wahlberg (The Union) and Zooey Deschanel (New Girl) that was written by Shyamalan himself.
The Happenning tells a pretty intriguing story: it follows humanity during a time when an unknown plague makes people commit suicide for no apparent reason. As the bodies start mounting up, Elliot (Wahlberg) and Alma (Deschanel) start a desperate run to save themselves even though they have no idea what they’re up against. Meanwhile, the nation’s leaders start considering the possibility of the U.S. having been hit with a terrorist attack through an airborne neurotoxin.
One of the reasons why The Happening was poorly received is inherent to M. Night Shyamalam projects: the director established himself as a twisty storyteller who ends his movies with a turn of events that leaves audiences baffled. The problem is that some of his titles failed to deliver a satisfying answer to its own mysteries, and The Happening ranks among the titles that fumbled its premise the most. Not by chance, the movie stands at an 18% approval rate at Rotten Tomatoes — one of the worst-received titles from Shyamalan, only losing to After Earth.(12%) and The Last Airbender (5%).
Was ‘The Happening’ a Flop?
Despite its negative reviews from critics and public, The Happening managed to rake in over $160 million at the box office. This was not an awful run in theaters but a far cry from other releases from the director — Signs made over $400 million worldwide and The Sixth Sense was his biggest hit at the time, with $672 million raked in. At the time of the release, Slate‘s Dana Stevens called the movie “preposterous” and lamented that it missed the opportunity to go all the way with its George A. Romero and David Cronenberg gory and R-rated elements.
The Happening might not represent one of Shyamalan’s best efforts, but the director proved recently that he still has a broad appeal with audiences. Some of his recent titles have been fairly well-received, with some going as far as saying that the filmmaker has made a full comeback. This year, the director put out a new movie, Trap — which is already available to stream — and produced his daughter’s directorial debut, Ishana Shayamalan‘s The Watchers.
The Happening debuts on Hulu on October 1. You can check out the trailer below:
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