Knock at the Cabin is M. Night Shyamalan’s fourth No. 1 film at the box office in a row, which the director has celebrated online. The film, which stars Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Dave Bautista, and Rupert Grint, is based on the novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. It follows a family who is held captive by a cult that insists they must choose one member to be sacrificed to prevent the end of the world.
On his official Twitter account, Shyamalan shared a post celebrating Knock at the Cabin becoming the No. 1 movie at the domestic box office this weekend.
Shyamalan thanked moviegoers for helping his film earn this achievement, making this his seventh film overall and fourth in a row to reach No. 1. In addition to that, Knock at the Cabin has the distinction of being the first new film to take the throne since Avatar: The Way of Water premiered on December 16 and claimed the top spot for seven weeks in a row. In its first weekend, Knock at the Cabin has earned $14.2 million domestically.
M. Night Shyamalan’s #1 Streak Explained
These days it seems inevitable that a new Shyamalan movie would do well at the box office. However, this streak of No. 1’s comes at the end of a long fallow period for the director. Before this streak, his name was considered to be something like box office poison due to the failure of various projects including 2008’s The Happening, 2010’s The Last Airbender, and 2013’s After Earth.
This fall came after a great rise that started when he burst onto the scene with his third feature, the 1999 ghost drama The Sixth Sense. He followed that film with the superhero riff Unbreakable, which premiered at No. 2 behind How the Grinch Stole Christmas, before claiming two more No. 1 titles with his twisty follow-ups Signs and The Village.
His career renaissance began with 2015’s The Visit, which set the stage for the film that began this new No. 1 streak, the 2016 James McAvoy split personality thriller Split. That film’s surprise connection to Unbreakable led the subsequent crossover film Glass to No. 1 as well. With interest well and truly piqued by this point, it was a cinch for him to continue this streak with the 2021 graphic novel adaptation Old and now Knock at the Cabin.
Source: M. Night Shyamalan/Twitter