Today is the fifteenth anniversary of . Which means today is also the fifteenth annivesary of the very public arrival of as a writer and director. The critically-acclaimed supernatural drama, his third feature film, was an immediate smash hit, not only earning $26 million on its opening weekend (back when that was a record for an August debut) but riding a tidal wave of buzz so potent that the film earned more on its first Sunday than on its first Friday. Today the picture is most famous for its epilogue which contained a rather stunning twist ending that invited repeat viewings through the end of summer and beginning of the fall. The film undoubtedly turned Mr. Shyamalan into an overnight sensation and its blockbuster success turned Shyamalan into a “name on the poster” filmmaker on par with (at the time) and James Cameron. He also represented the end of an era. was the last blockbuster filmmaker to build his capitol on original stories.
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