Trap 2: M. Night Shyamalan Addresses Sequel Potential

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has shown a willingness to return to the world of some of his movies, with two sequels to Unbreakable in the last decade. With the release of Trap this weekend, he launched what seems like an easy franchise starter, but will it happen? The box office was fairly modest, but its relatively low budget means it could still turn a profit — and of course, Shayamalan himself tends to get a lot of leeway from studios since he’s one of the only American directors who is a draw unto himself.

“We screened this for an audience and they were so excited. And at the end, in a test screening, someone asked the audience, ‘How many of you wanna see a sequel of this?’ And every hand in the theater went up and I was hiding. And I saw it, and I was like, ‘Whoa,’” Shyamalan told The Playlist. “So that’s one. And then two, okay, I finished this movie, three weeks ago, I went back to the office the next day and felt an absolute loss that I wasn’t going be with these characters again. I used to run to the editing room. I loved this movie and I wanted to be with this music and these characters and Cooper and Riley and Lady Raven, all of them. And so that was a strange feeling. They become a part of you when you’re making these characters. And, and it was such a joyful experience; we were laughing through it and, playing, and the audience can feel that. So, yeah….”

In Trap, “A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock, and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

The director of photography is Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Call Me by Your Name). The production designer is Debbie de Villa (The Hating Game). It is edited by Noëmi Preiswerk and the music is by Herdĭs Stefănsdŏttir (Knock at the Cabin). The music supervisor is Susan Jacobs (Old); the costume designer is Caroline Duncan (Old). The casting is by Douglas Aibel (Asteroid City).

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A Blinding Edge Pictures Production, An M. Night Shyamalan Film: Trap. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, opens in theaters in the U.S. today and internationally on August 9th.