The Sixth Sense director M Night Shyamalan has announced that his new film will act as a sequel to both Split, his recent hit multiple-personality thriller starring James McAvoy, and Unbreakable, the 2000 superhero film featuring Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson.
Shyamalan revealed the new project, titled Glass, in a series of tweets that said the director could “finally answer the #1 question I get, ‘Are you making a f#&@ing sequel to Unbreakable or what?’” Adding that it was “always my dream” to have both Split and Unbreakable “collide in this third film”, Shyamalan said the cast would include both films’ leading actors: Unbreakable’s Willis and Jackson, and Split’s McAvoy and Anya Taylor Joy.
My new film is the sequel to #Unbreakable AND #Split. It was always my dream to have both films collide in this third film.
— M. Night Shyamalan (@MNightShyamalan) April 26, 2017
Shyamalan revealed little else about the project other than its planned release date on 18 January 2019, but its title indicates that Jackson’s character – a comic-book dealer with a genetic bone disease, nicknamed Mr Glass – may be the central figure.
Since the surprise commercial success of Split, which featured McAvoy as a man with dissociative identity disorder and took more than $274m at the global box office, Shyamalan appears to be enjoying the benefits of a restored reputation for popular suspense thrillers. His 1999 debut, The Sixth Sense, is still his most commercially successful film, having grossed more than $672m globally, but more recent offerings such as The Lady in the Water, The Visit and After Earth have attracted critical derision and disappointing box office results.
