The ending lines of M. Night Shyamalan’s movie UNBREAKABLE have both chilled and frustrated fans of the movie (including me) ever since its release 10 years ago. Perhaps even more so than the Joker cards showing up in a ziplock baggy at the end of BATMAN BEGINS, they filled your mind with the possibility, the promise, the demand for a sequel.
Well, the movie wasn’t as successful as Shyamalan’s break-out hit THE SIXTH SENSE. And, even though its gained a greater deal of respect today, the movie was trashed by critics and most audiences at the time. I remember - - I was there, scratching my head over why people weren’t feeling the down-to-Earth superhero flick like I was. Still, as I mentioned, the movie’s gained more respect and it still holds a special place for Shyamalan and its stars, Nick Fury & John McClane. Uh, I mean... Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis.
Willis is such a "big fan" of the movie that he told MTV while he was promoting COP OUT…
"I talked to [Shyamalan] over the holidays, and he is still thinking about doing the fight movie between me and Sam [Jackson] that we were going to do… We chose to do the origin [in the first movie]… As long as Sam can make it, I'm up for it.”
It would appear as if Sam is still interested, too, since he expressed interest in a sequel to Splash Page a couple years ago…
"Every time I see [Shyamalan], he says, 'I’ve written this thing for you,' so I say, 'why are you always doing these movies I’m not in?' Back then we talked about what the rest would entail… I broke out of the mental institution. I’m out there doing stuff and ["Unbreakable" co-star Bruce Willis' "David Dunn" is] after me. It’s very cool. He still wears that rain thing, that windbreaker."
That would leave Shyamalan himself. Is he down for it? Here's what he told Splash Page, as well...
“I tell you I get asked about [making UNBREAKABLE 2] all the time, so it’s not [an idea] I ever forget… I don't know where all the parties are in the world. Sam [Jackson] is like 'Mr. Comic Book' now. And Bruce, I don't know what he's up to. I don't know where Disney's at in their head and what kind of movies they're up for making. But yeah, I love that movie."
It took only one playing card to stir up demand for the DARK KNIGHT, and it seems like we’ve got three out of four aces in the hole here. The last one’s the studio, of course.
Reading about this, and Jackson's memory of Shyamalan’s sequel ideas, draws my mind back to the rumors immediately following the release of UNBREAKABLE. Shymalan originally intended the film to be a take on the whole superhero myth, with the first act being the origin, the second act being the confrontation with the supervillain and the third being the defeat of the supervillain. However, while writing the script, he decided that the origin was the most interesting part and decided to leave it at that. The rumors then alleged that the sequels were a done deal and that, in fact, they’d be titled BREAKABLE and BROKEN respectively.
How many UNBREAKABLE fans do we have out there in the Comic Vine community? Raise your hands. Do you want David Dunn and Mr. Glass back for round two? How would you do it?
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia Comics. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this March - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.
