Apple places order for psychological thriller produced by M. Night Shyamalan

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in General Discussion
Apple has picked up a new series produced by famed movie director M. Night Shyamalan, a ten-episode straight-to-series psychological thriller that will be added to Apple's constantly-increasing collection of streaming video content.




Few details about the series have been revealed, but Variety reports it will be written by Tony Basgallop and executive produced by Shyamalan. Shyamalan's Blinding Edge Pictures will be producing the series, consisting of ten 30-minute episodes, and Shyamalan himself will reportedly direct the first episode.

The show will be Shyamalan's second television production, after executive producing Fox's "Wayward Pines." He is best known for the blockbuster movies "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs," and is also working on "Glass," a sequel to the recent film "Split" and connected to "Unbreakable" from the year 2000.

Basgallop has worked on shows including "24: Legacy," "24: Live Another Day," "Inside Men," and "EastEnders," as well as creating "Hotel Babylon." Jason Blumenthal, Todd Black, and Steve Tisch of production company Escape Artists are also named as executive producers, and Taylor Latham will be co-executive producing the show.

The new commission is the latest in a line of shows Apple is buying into as part of its ongoing $1 billion investment into original programming and show production.

In 2017, Apple reportedly handed a blank check to Drake to make movies and shows for the firm, and signed a deal with "Battlestar Galactica" and "Star Trek" alum Ronald D. Moore for a new space drama. Apple is also thought to be paying $5 million per episode for a ten-episode season of "Amazing Stories," reviving the Amblin Television and NBCUniversal sci-fi anthology.

Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine studio is reportedly linked to three projects with Apple, including an untitled drama based on a morning show production starring Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. The second is a development of Nichelle Tramble Spellman's "Are You Sleeping," said to be starring Octavia Spencer, while the third is a sketch comedy show starring Kristen Wiig.

Apple signed a deal with "La La Land" writer and director Damien Chazelle in late January, quickly followed by a deal on February 8 involving an anthology series called "Little America" focusing on immigrants in the United States.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    I see dead money.
    mac_dogtallest skilanantksundaramSpamSandwichmacguicornchip
  • Reply 2 of 14
    My largest question is about the long term strategy of delivery. I think with all this original content it will outgrow the iTunes environment and might be confusing to users if it doesn't. Is the goal to establish a service like Netflix, where you pay a monthly subscription to access the content or will it be sold via iTunes or free as part of an Apple Music subscription. I think they need to reassess their content delivery as it's becoming increasingly more complicated as march away from simply doing music continues.
    randominternetpersonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 14
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member
    I didn't realise he worked on EastEnders. Now the whole reliance on plot twists makes more sense. Also the fact that most of the "twists" turn out to be pretty obvious. Hell, some of them are visible from orbit.
    cornchip
  • Reply 4 of 14
    SendMcjakSendMcjak Posts: 66unconfirmed, member
    Has this dude produced anything even okay in like 10 years?
    cornchip
  • Reply 5 of 14
    “Split” from last year gets a 75% from Rotten Tomatoes. I haven’t seen it but I’ve heard it is pretty good. 
  • Reply 6 of 14
    A 1.5-hit wonder. Not a good use of Apple's dollars, by a long shot.

    I still think that content is a rabbit-hole for Apple, but what do I know...
    SpamSandwichcornchip
  • Reply 7 of 14
    jdb8167 said:
    “Split” from last year gets a 75% from Rotten Tomatoes. I haven’t seen it but I’ve heard it is pretty good. 
    Thats all a matter of opinion. Any TV series or movie is gonna have split opinions. Some will like it, others won't. 
    lolliver
  • Reply 8 of 14
    “Drake”? LOL. Come on. Get real. Cement some exclusives with people who know what they’re doing, like JJ Abrams, Vince Gilligan, Tina Fey, etc. If this is a war of attrition for dominance, it’ll take a lot of money and a lot of exclusive deals with proven talent.

    Like Anantksundaram, I think this entire pursuit is foolishness and will fail to move the needle for Apple. It’s a total “me too” strategy.
    edited February 2018 anantksundaramcornchip
  • Reply 9 of 14
    jdb8167 said:
    “Split” from last year gets a 75% from Rotten Tomatoes. I haven’t seen it but I’ve heard it is pretty good. 
    I'm still mad about The Village. I will never watch anything else he does.
    randominternetpersoncornchip
  • Reply 10 of 14
     It’s a total “me too” strategy.
    Careful... AI might shut this thread down for #politics...
    randominternetpersonSpamSandwichcornchip
  • Reply 11 of 14
    "Apple has picked up a new series produced by famed movie director M. Night Shyamalan, a ten-episode straight-to-series psychological thriller that will be added to Apple's constantly-increasing collection of streaming video content. big names who might actually produce something for Apple, someday."

    That's better.
    SpamSandwichcornchip
  • Reply 12 of 14
     It’s a total “me too” strategy.
    Careful... AI might shut this thread down for #politics...
     :D 
  • Reply 13 of 14
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,350member
    A 1.5-hit wonder. Not a good use of Apple's dollars, by a long shot.

    I still think that content is a rabbit-hole for Apple, but what do I know...
    Agreed on Syham's success. I've only seen a half-dozen films, liked Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but wasn't encouraged to see any more. Maybe I'll give Split a look.

    But in truth, I've grown pretty tired of 'dark' films. Disney is too far at the other end of the spectrum, with the exception of some of the Pixar stuff.

    I'm not sure that this is yet a rabbit-hole for Apple, but their success rate is poor. 
  • Reply 14 of 14
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    A 1.5-hit wonder. Not a good use of Apple's dollars, by a long shot.

    Absolutely agree. This guy has squandered the potential afforded by his launch. Got Hollywood-itis and decided to just keep going back to the well. In thirty years he may have a revival à la Ed Wood, the B horror movies schlock king. 
    edited February 2018
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