EXCLUSIVE: We hear that New Line has landed The Watchers, a project from Ishana Night Shyamalan which will mark her feature directorial debut and which she adapted from the A.M. Shine novel of the same name. There’s a lot of excitement around the thriller which is being fast-tracked for a June 7, 2024 global theatrical release; cameras rolling later this year. New Line beat out other studios with a competitive bid.
The Watchers follows Mina, a 28-year old artist who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers that are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
M. Night Shyamalan and Ashwin Rajan will produce through Blinding Edge Pictures. Nimitt Mankad with Inimitable Pictures will also serve as a producer, and Jo Homewood will executive produce. The filmmaker is the daughter of 2x Oscar nominated, $3.3 billion grossing filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.
“We couldn’t be more excited to make Ishana’s first film with The Watchers. Equal parts visual, immersive, and terrifying, the script grips you from the first page and never lets go,” said Richard Brener, President and Chief Creative Officer, New Line Cinema.
Ishana Night Shyamalan recently served as writer and director on the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series Servant, currently in its fourth and final season. Among the youngest-ever series writer/directors beginning at age 19, Shyamalan wrote or co-wrote ten episodes and directed six episodes, including two season finales. She also directed second unit on the hit features Old and Knock at the Cabin, both of which topped the box office in their respective opening weekends, and directed four music videos for R&B singer Saleka.
Shyamalan is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She is repped by Range Media Partners and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
