''Old'' is a 2021 American
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
written, directed, and produced by
M. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Nelliyattu M. Night Shyamalan ( ; born August 6, 1970) is an Indian-American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for making original films with contemporary supernatural plots and twist endings. He was born in Mahé, India, and raise ...
. It is based on the
French-language Swiss graphic novel ''Sandcastle'' by Pierre Oscar Levy and
Frederik Peeters. The film features an
ensemble cast consisting of
Gael García Bernal,
Vicky Krieps,
Rufus Sewell,
Alex Wolff,
Thomasin McKenzie
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie (born 26 July 2000) is a New Zealand actress. After a minor role in '' The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies'' (2014), she rose to critical prominence after playing a young girl living in isolation in Debra Granik's dr ...
,
Abbey Lee
Abbey Lee Kershaw (born 12 June 1987) known professionally as Abbey Lee, is an Australian model, actress and musician. Following several years of success leading up to the 2011 fashion seasons, '' V'' magazine dubbed her a supermodel, and Mode ...
,
Nikki Amuka-Bird,
Ken Leung,
Eliza Scanlen,
Aaron Pierre
Aaron Jordan Pierre (born 17 February 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre back for League Two club Sutton United and the Grenada national team.
He began his career in the academy at Premier League club Fulham, before ...
,
Embeth Davidtz
Embeth Jean Davidtz (born August 11, 1965) is an American-South African actress. Her screen roles include movies such as ''Army of Darkness'', ''Schindler's List, '' ''Matilda'', ''Mansfield Park'', '' Bicentennial Man'', ''Fallen,'' '' Junebug, ...
, and
Emun Elliott. The plot follows a group of people who find themselves aging rapidly on a secluded beach.
Shyamalan decided to adapt ''Sandcastle'' into a film after receiving it as a
Father's Day gift in 2017. The then-untitled project was announced in September 2019, with the filmmaker revealing a partnership with
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
. The following year, filming took place in the Dominican Republic for three months, during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, with cinematographer
Michael Gioulakis. ''Old'' premiered at
Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on July 19, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 23. The film was a box office success, grossing $90 million worldwide against an $18 million budget while receiving polarized reviews from critics.
Plot
Guy and Prisca Cappa are going through a divorce. To avoid saddening their young children Maddox and Trent, the couple take them to a tropical resort as a final family vacation. At their hotel, Guy and Prisca are given complimentary drinks and the children befriend the resort manager's nephew, Idlib. At night, Maddox and Trent overhear their parents arguing and play a message decoding game with Idlib.
The next morning, the manager invites the family to a secluded beach where three additional parties are present: rapper "Mid-Sized Sedan", and a female companion; surgeon Charles, his elder mother Agnes, his wife Chrystal, and their young daughter Kara; and Jarin and Patricia Carmichael, a close-knit husband and wife. Trent discovers the corpse of Mid-Sized Sedan's companion. Charles grows suspicious of Mid-Sized Sedan, who reveals that he has been experiencing nosebleeds because of his
hemophilia. After the children rapidly turn into teenagers and Agnes suddenly dies, the families conclude that the beach is rapidly
aging them, with the occupants undergoing the equivalent of one year of aging every 30 minutes. At least one member of each family has an underlying medical condition. They discover that trying to leave will result in them blacking out and waking up back to where they left.
In a fit of rage, Charles cuts Mid-Sized Sedan with a pocket knife and the group watches as his injury quickly heals. After Prisca develops a
stomach tumor Tumors of the Stomach
Tumors of the stomach are known as gastric tumors, and can be either benign or malignant (gastric cancer). These tumors arise from the cells of the gastric mucosa which lines the stomach. Typically, most gastric tumors are c ...
, Charles performs a successful surgery to remove it. Mid-Sized Sedan discovers that the body of his companion has fully decomposed in a matter of hours. Kara and Trent continue to age and after having sex with each other, Kara gets pregnant. She manages to give birth, but the baby dies due to the time rapidly passing. Trent and Maddox discover the notebook of a previous traveler, along with indications of them being watched. The attempts to leave grow tenser when Charles's worsening
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...
causes him to kill Mid-Sized Sedan. Jarin drowns, Kara falls to her death, Patricia suffers a fatal
epileptic seizure, and Chrystal's
hypocalcemia results in her bones rupturing, killing her. At night, Charles attacks Guy in a schizophrenic episode, but Prisca slashes him with a rusted knife, instigating a fatal blood infection that kills Charles. An elderly Guy and Prisca make amends before dying moments apart from each other.
With only the now-middle-aged Maddox and Trent remaining by the next morning, the pair construct a sandcastle. They revisit a secret message given to them by Idlib, which Trent deduces is connected to an underwater coral passage. Believing that the passage will allow them to leave the beach without losing consciousness, he and his sister start swimming through the coral. After they seemingly fail to emerge from the water, a resort employee monitoring them reports that the entire group has died. He gives the news to the manager, who mentions a previous incident where a guest had almost escaped from the beach before announcing that trial 73 has concluded.
It is revealed that the resort is a front for a research team from the pharmaceutical company Warren & Warren which was conducting
clinical trial
Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, diet ...
s of new medical drugs, which are administered to guests with medical conditions by spiking their drinks. Since the beach naturally accelerates the lives of the guests, the researchers have been able to complete the lifelong drug trials within a day. The researchers lure a new group to the beach, but are interrupted by Trent and Maddox, who survived their underwater swim, using the notebook as evidence which they gave to vacationing police officer Greg Mitchel, who informs his boss of the researchers' crimes. The researchers are mentioned to have been arrested with subpoenas sent to the rest of Warren & Warren as Mitchel plans to reunite Trent and Maddox with their aunt.
Cast
*
Gael García Bernal as Guy Cappa, an actuary married to Prisca.
*
Vicky Krieps as Prisca Cappa, a museum curator with a
stomach tumor Tumors of the Stomach
Tumors of the stomach are known as gastric tumors, and can be either benign or malignant (gastric cancer). These tumors arise from the cells of the gastric mucosa which lines the stomach. Typically, most gastric tumors are c ...
married to Guy.
*
Rufus Sewell as Charles, a
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...
-battling surgeon married to Chrystal.
*
Alex Wolff as Trent Cappa, Guy and Prisca's son.
**
Emun Elliott as adult Trent Cappa
** Luca Faustino Rodriguez as Trent Cappa (11 Year)
** Nolan River as Trent Cappa (6 Year)
*
Thomasin McKenzie
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie (born 26 July 2000) is a New Zealand actress. After a minor role in '' The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies'' (2014), she rose to critical prominence after playing a young girl living in isolation in Debra Granik's dr ...
as Maddox Cappa, Guy and Prisca's daughter.
**
Embeth Davidtz
Embeth Jean Davidtz (born August 11, 1965) is an American-South African actress. Her screen roles include movies such as ''Army of Darkness'', ''Schindler's List, '' ''Matilda'', ''Mansfield Park'', '' Bicentennial Man'', ''Fallen,'' '' Junebug, ...
as adult Maddox Cappa
**
Alexa Swinton as Maddox Cappa (11 Year)
*
Abbey Lee
Abbey Lee Kershaw (born 12 June 1987) known professionally as Abbey Lee, is an Australian model, actress and musician. Following several years of success leading up to the 2011 fashion seasons, '' V'' magazine dubbed her a supermodel, and Mode ...
as Chrystal, Charles's wife who has
hypocalcemia.
*
Nikki Amuka-Bird as Patricia Carmichael, an
epileptic psychologist married to Jarin.
*
Ken Leung as Jarin Carmichael, a nurse and Patricia's husband.
*
Eliza Scanlen as Kara, Charles and Chrystal's daughter.
** Mikaya Fisher as Kara (11 Year)
** Kylie Begley as Kara (6 Year)
*
Aaron Pierre
Aaron Jordan Pierre (born 17 February 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre back for League Two club Sutton United and the Grenada national team.
He began his career in the academy at Premier League club Fulham, before ...
as Mid-Sized Sedan / Brendan, a rapper afflicted with
hemophilia.
Additional cast members include
Kathleen Chalfant as Agnes, Charles' mother,
Gustaf Hammarsten
Carl Gustaf Hammarsten (born 2 September 1967) is a Swedish film, television and theatre actor. He is internationally known for his role in ''Brüno'' (2009) as the title character's sidekick and gay lover.
Career Film
He has appeared in more t ...
as the resort manager who heads the secret research team for the pharmaceutical company Warren & Warren,
Francesca Eastwood and
Matthew Shear
Matthew Louis Shear (born October 10, 1984) is an American actor. He is known for playing the role of Tony in Noah Baumbach's ''Mistress America'', opposite Greta Gerwig and Lola Kirke.
He plays Detective Lucius Isaacson on TNT (U.S. TV network) ...
as resort employees Madrid and Sidney, Kailen Jude as the manager's nephew Idlib, Daniel Ison as vacationing police officer Greg Mitchel, and
M. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Nelliyattu M. Night Shyamalan ( ; born August 6, 1970) is an Indian-American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for making original films with contemporary supernatural plots and twist endings. He was born in Mahé, India, and raise ...
as the resort employee who drives the guests to the beach and monitors them.
Themes
When ''
NME'' Beth Webb asked about the different themes tackled in ''Old'', Shyamalan responded, "It's definitely about our relationship to time and, in my opinion, our dysfunctional relationship to time that we all have. Until we're forced to examine it, whether it's a pandemic or the factors that are on this situation for these characters, that they're trapped on this beach and they have to reflect on their relationship to time. You see some characters unable to navigate this and then some characters find peace. Why did they find peace and how did they find peace in the midst of all of this chaos? So there's this conversation about that, the one that I'm having of myself with time."
At the
Tribeca Film Festival, Shyamalan said that the film's focus on aging reminded him of his father, who has
dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
, and his children as he watches them grow up. During the event,
Alex Wolff compared the film to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, "Coming out of COVID it feels like time just stopped. And that's what the movie's literally about." At the film's premiere, Wolff was asked for his interpretation of the film and said it was "an allegorical existential sort of meditation on getting older."
Other cast members chimed in;
Nikki Amuka-Bird said the film was about not taking nature for granted,
Gael García Bernal said it was about questioning how time travels differently for other people, and
Vicky Krieps found that it was about "love and family and all these things that are much stronger than any fears — the fear of aging and the fear of death."
Production
Development, pre-production and casting
In September 2019,
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
announced its plans to distribute two then-untitled independently-financed thriller films written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. In a statement, Universal Pictures President Peter Cramer said that these projects contained "highly original stories," while Shymalan added, "There are wonderful studios out there, but Universal has made it a mandate to release original films. They are the best at finding an audience for new stories with unexpected tones. I believe original films are crucial to the longevity of the theatrical experience."
In May 2020,
Eliza Scanlen,
Thomasin McKenzie
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie (born 26 July 2000) is a New Zealand actress. After a minor role in '' The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies'' (2014), she rose to critical prominence after playing a young girl living in isolation in Debra Granik's dr ...
,
Aaron Pierre
Aaron Jordan Pierre (born 17 February 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre back for League Two club Sutton United and the Grenada national team.
He began his career in the academy at Premier League club Fulham, before ...
, Alex Wolff, and Vicky Krieps entered negotiations to star. That June, they all joined the cast alongside
Abbey Lee
Abbey Lee Kershaw (born 12 June 1987) known professionally as Abbey Lee, is an Australian model, actress and musician. Following several years of success leading up to the 2011 fashion seasons, '' V'' magazine dubbed her a supermodel, and Mode ...
, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and
Ken Leung. In July, it was reported that Shyamalan, Marc Bienstock, and Ashwin Rajan would produce the project through
Perfect World Pictures and
Blinding Edge Pictures, with Gael García Bernal also being cast. In August,
Rufus Sewell,
Embeth Davidtz
Embeth Jean Davidtz (born August 11, 1965) is an American-South African actress. Her screen roles include movies such as ''Army of Darkness'', ''Schindler's List, '' ''Matilda'', ''Mansfield Park'', '' Bicentennial Man'', ''Fallen,'' '' Junebug, ...
, and
Emun Elliott were all announced as part of the ensemble cast. That same month,
Bryan Cranston said he had declined a role in the film due to a scheduling conflict caused by his involvement with filming ''
Your Honor'' in New Orleans.
Filming and post-production
On September 26, 2020,
principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as ...
began in the Dominican Republic and to celebrate, Shyamalan revealed the film's title and published its first promotional release poster. That same day, ''
Collider'' reported that the film was an adaptation of ''Sandcastle'', the French graphic novel by Swiss authors Pierre Oscar Levy and
Frederik Peeters, which Shyamalan had received as a collective
Father's Day gift from his three daughters in 2017. ''Old'' marks the first film of Shyamalan's career to have no shooting take place around his hometown of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
. With an $18 million budget, filming took place during the COVID-19 pandemic with cinematographer
Michael Gioulakis, using
35mm film, and concluded on November 15, 2020. After filming wrapped, Shyamalan said ''Old'' was the first film to be shot during the pandemic in the Dominican Republic and that throughout the shoot, no one tested positive for the virus as he paid for the production crew's ten-week stay at a hotel.
''Old'' was inspired by films created during the
Australian New Wave
The Australian New Wave (also known as the Australian Film Revival, Australian Film Renaissance, or New Australian Cinema) was an era of resurgence in worldwide popularity of Australian cinema, particularly in the United States. It began in the ea ...
, including ''
Walkabout'' (1971) and ''
Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), along with ''
The Exterminating Angel'' (1962), ''
Kuroneko'' (1968), ''
Jaws
Jaws or Jaw may refer to:
Anatomy
* Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth
** Mandible, the lower jaw
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker''
* ...
'' (1975), and ''
The Twilight Zone''. To create a claustrophobic feeling, Shyamalan employed several filming techniques from
Akira Kurosawa's ''
Rashomon
is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/ crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura as v ...
'' (1950) and ''
Ran'' (1985). As a result, ''Old'' was mostly filmed in a single location, the Playa El Valle beach located between two mountains on the north coast of
Santa Bárbara de Samaná. Additional filming took place at Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios in
Juan Dolio and in several locations around Samaná. To capture footage of the surrounding nature, Shyamalan's daughter, Ishana, served as the film's
second unit director.
His other daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, wrote an original song for the film titled "Remain" that was inspired by the topic of marriage vows and
U2's "
With or Without You," used to "highlight the relationship between Guy and Prisca and the love that exists between them."
Several cast members recalled Shyamalan using
storyboard
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in t ...
s to frame every shot in the film. Ishana Shyamalan described her father's choice as a "very prescribed and programmatic" approach, while Wolff said the director "had such precision in terms of what age he wanted you to be and where he wanted you to be at that age. Night would just guide you where you needed to be emotionally, and then it would happen naturally."
In an interview with ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...
'', Wolff said he and McKenzie were the first actors to be cast after submitting audition tapes, and recalled passing out during the filming of the pregnancy scene due to high temperatures. During post-production, editing was completed by Brett M. Reed. The film's score was composed by Trevor Gureckis and released by Back Lot Music on July 23, 2021.
Release
''Old'' was originally going to be released by Universal Pictures on February 26, 2021, but in April 2020, the film was removed from the studio's release schedule after its film ''
Nobody'' was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, Universal Pictures announced that ''Old'' would be theatrically released on July 23, 2021. A premiere for the film was held at
Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on July 19, 2021, which was attended by its cast and crew.
On February 7, 2021, during
Super Bowl LV
Super Bowl LV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2020 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the American Football Confere ...
, Universal Pictures aired a 30-second
television spot for ''Old''. Anthony D'Alessandro from ''
Deadline Hollywood
''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wi ...
'' said the teaser reminded him of a two-part episode of ''
The Brady Bunch'', where an ancient
tiki brings the group bad luck and causes Greg (
Barry Williams) to suffer a surfing accident. Writing for ''
Syfy Wire'', Josh Weiss said the teaser "definitely bears Shyamalan's signature slow-boil tension." On May 27, 2021, a theatrical release poster and an official trailer were released, which ''
Variety'' Antonio Ferme said brought "thrills and chills," and Weiss described as "a reverse ''
Benjamin Button'' situation that the characters need to reverse before they shrivel up and die." That July, an exclusive image of the film was released in a magazine issue of ''
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
''.
Summarizing the film's marketing results, RelishMix wrote that it was being compared to ''
A Quiet Place Part II'' and ''
The Conjuring 3
''The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It'' is a 2021 American supernatural horror film directed by Michael Chaves, with a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick from a story by Johnson-McGoldrick and James Wan. The film serves as a sequ ...
'', Shyamalan's ''
Split'' and ''
Glass
Glass is a non- crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenchin ...
'', and
Edgar Wright
Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zooms and a ...
's ''
Last Night in Soho'', as well as
ABC's ''
Lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
* Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
*Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
''. The site added that there were "Conversational tones swings from excitement, fear, curiosity, caution, warnings to the characters in the film — to questions about the pregnant girl and numerous guesses about how the films ends and plot twists."
By July 2021, the film's promotional content had been viewed a total of 113.2 million times, which included 41.2 million views from three
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
videos and 30.3 million views from nineteen videos on
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
. According to Universal Pictures, the Super Bowl teaser was viewed at least 100 million times, but overall, videos promoting the film "
ellshort of the norm along with daily click-rates."
A
Snapchat aging filter created for the film also gained 23 million views worldwide on its first day after it was used by celebrities such as
Shaquille O'Neal,
Kenny Smith
Kenneth Smith (born March 8, 1965), nicknamed "the Jet", is an American sports commentator and former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA from 1987 to 1997 as a member of the Sacra ...
, and
Charles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons in the Nati ...
.
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
released ''Old'' on Digital HD via
digital distribution on October 5, 2021, with a physical release on
Ultra HD Blu-ray,
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
, and
DVD on October 19. Special features include deleted scenes; "Shyamalan Family Business," a look into how Ishana and Saleka Shyamalan contributed to the film; "All the Beach Is a Stage" and "Nightmares in Paradise," a detailing of how filming took place; and "A Family in the Moment," featuring cast members describing a specific night of filming.
Reception
Box office
''Old'' grossed $48.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $41.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $90.2 million.
A week before its release, ''Variety'' and ''Deadline Hollywood'' reported that film analytics had predicted the film would make $12–15 million in its opening weekend, with some noting that its competition, which had the same target audience, could impact box office revenues. Released alongside ''
Snake Eyes'' and ''
Joe Bell'' on July 23, 2021, in 3,355 theaters, ''Old'' made $6.9 million on its first day, including $1.5 million from Thursday night previews. With audiences that were 52% female and 62% at or over the age of 25, it went on to debut to $16.85 million, making it the sixth film of Shyamalan's to top the box office, though it marked the lowest opening weekend of his career.
Describing the openings of ''Old'' and ''Snake Eyes'' as "weak,"
Michael Cieply
Michael Cieply (born 1951) is an entertainment industry writer, first for '' The Wall Street Journal'' and then for ''Talk'' magazine and as a media correspondent for '' The New York Times''. Here he covers Hollywood for the media desk. He joine ...
wrote an analysis to explain the audience decline at the box office, streaming sites, and television by using
Occam's razor, "Maybe, as a group, we are suffering from 'screen fatigue' — not in the narrow sense of migraines, eye strain, and
Computer Vision Syndrome, but in a much bigger way, as a culture. We are tired of
Zoom calls. We are tired of event television. We are really tired of looking at ourselves on media screens, large and small." In its second weekend, the film suffered a 60% decline and grossed $6.86 million. After making $4.1 million in its third, ''Old'' dropped out of the box office top five in its fourth weekend with $2.4 million. In its fifth and sixth weekends, the film fell to the bottom of the box office top ten, making $1.15 million and $840,810, respectively.
Worldwide, ''Old'' made $6.5 million in its opening weekend in 23 markets; the top countries were Russia ($2.1 million), the United Kingdom ($1.1 million), Mexico ($800,000), Italy ($600,000), and France ($500,000). In its second, the film had a 35% drop and grossed $7.5 million, including a $1.2 million opening in Spain. After making $4.4 million in its third weekend, it made $2 million in its fifth and held a Korean opening in a mere 453 theaters, a decision by the Korea Theater Association to release local titles instead. In its sixth weekend, ''Old'' was screened in 57 markets and made $1.64 million. It made $277,000 in its ninth weekend and $169,000 in its tenth across 60 foreign markets.
Critical response
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while
PostTrak reported 61% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 37% saying they would definitely recommend it.
''Old'' received criticism for its screenplay, dialogue, and acting. Wendy Ide of ''
The Observer'' said the film's exposition felt "ponderous and mannered" and asked: "If we can't believe the characters, how are we meant to accept the film's central premise?"
WXIX-TV Terrence "TT" Todd gave a similar response and said that while the premise was interesting, the plot was confusing and could have been explained better as its own television series. From ''
Vox'', Alissa Wilkinson wrote that "Shyamalan has not grown any more skilled at writing dialogue over the years," but found that at its best, the film was comparable to
Luis Buñuel's ''
The Exterminating Angel''.
Barry Hertz of ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' said that the film had "stilted dialogue that runs in circles, dumb-dumb plot holes,
nda bizarre determination to have his performers act as unnaturally as possible." However, some critics enjoyed the gallows humor in the movie. Germain Lussier of ''
Gizmodo'' said the movie was made with sadistic glee and surprising emotion. Nick Allen of ''The Playlist'' called it a pitch-black comedy and self-aware horror. Scott Mendelson of ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' said it would have benefited from an R rating and described it as a "relentless and mean little chiller".
The film's cinematography and premise received praise. While criticizing the film in general, Jocelyn Novec from the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...
said it had "an enticing premise and pretty scenery." In his ''Deadline Hollywood'' review, Pete Hammond wrote, "I don't expect this one to age very well, and some of it is just laughably bad. At the very least, as a summertime theatrical release, the stunning location should give audiences a nice respite from the heat." Critic
Richard Roeper described the film's main location as "absolutely breathtaking," and ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''
Richard Brody wrote that "with spare methods and sharp images, the director turns a simple premise into potent fantasy."
The film's themes and
twist ending received a polarized response. ''Sandcastle'', the novel the film is based on, ends without explaining why the beach ages its guests, and Wilkinson found that ending to be "more satisfying."
From
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show '' Good Morning America'', '' ...
,
Peter Travers said he was "shocked" to find "how clumsily
hyamalanhandles potent themes about sudden death and the collapse of time that should resonate powerfully in the COVID-19 era. Even his argument for family values in the face of global youth worship feels rote." Writing for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
Glenn Kenny
Glenn Kenny (born August 8, 1959) is an American film critic and journalist. He writes for '' The New York Times'' and ''RogerEbert.com''.
Biography
Kenny attended William Paterson University, where he majored in English literature. said, "Shyamalan's fluid filmmaking style serves him especially well here
ndthe way he switches out his actors as their characters age is seamless," but found that "while Shyamalan is often cited for his tricky endings, it's arguable that he doesn't quite stick the landing with this one."
Accolades
References
External links
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{{Blinding Edge Pictures
2021 films
2021 thriller films
American thriller films
Blinding Edge Pictures films
Films about death
Films about diseases
Films about families
Films about old age
Films about rapid human age change
Films about time
Films based on Swiss novels
Films directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Films produced by M. Night Shyamalan
Films set in resorts
Films set on beaches
Films shot in the Dominican Republic
Films with screenplays by M. Night Shyamalan
Live-action films based on comics
Perfect World Pictures films
Universal Pictures films
2020s English-language films
2020s American films