Shyamalan's Next Move?

Despite the lackluster boxoffice performance of his latest release Lady In The Water, Shyamalan is still considered an A-list director in Hollywood -- and probably he would be the man to sit in Director's chair for a future Harry Potter production. While Lady made a disappointing little over $34 million until today, the film certainly isn't a flop. It cost nearly $60 million, half the budget of most major studio releases. Once overseas and DVD revenues are added in, the film is likely to squeeze out a small profit.

A flop or two often hurts the ego of a director and sometimes he or she becomes more aggressive and try to recapture box office glory with a bigger film. Steven Spielberg, for example, followed 'The Color Purple' and 'Empire Of The Sun' with the mammoth 'Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade'. It's not clear how Shyamalan, who was called 'the next Spielberg' by Newsweek magazine on its cover, is going to take his next step.

In the meantime, British magazines got abuzz with the speculation that Shyamalan might take on a Harry Potter film next. While promoting 'Lady In The Water' recently in London, Shyamalan revealed that a Potter film was on the cards. He also revealed that the first Harry Potter film, The Philosopher's Stone (directed by Chris Columbus) was offered to him. But that conflicted with his 'Unbreakable'. We hope Shyamalan who is always so secretive of his scripts, would go along well with Harry Potter author JK Rowling who always enjoys the authority of giving final approval to every screenplay based on her bestselling books.

Two Footnotes:
1) Shyamalan might also have the last laugh on Disney production chief Nina Jacobson. Jacobson turned down 'the Lady In The Water' script, but a number of awful flops she had (The Alamo, among others) finally returned to haunt her. Jacobson was unceremoniously given the boot few weeks ago when Disney cut over 600 jobs worldwide.

2) The fifth big-screen Potter adaptation 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' is currently under production. It's being directed by award-winning British filmmaker David Yates, whose other movies include 'The Girl in the Cafe', 'Sex Traffic', and 'State of Play'.