CinemaCon 2018: The GLASS Trailer Is Going To Make Shyamalan Fans Very Happy
Early on during Universal's CinemaCon panel, director M. Night Shyamalan took to the stage with Bruce Willis ("Bruce Willy", if ya nasty), Samuel L. Jackson, James McAvoy and Sarah Paulson to give the crowd their very first look at Glass, the highly-anticipated final chapter in Shyamalan's Unbreakable trilogy. I am not exaggerating when I say that the audience went apeshit for this trailer.
The footage opened with a shrink (Sarah Paulson) staring into the camera and explaining her area of expertise - delusional patients who believe themselves to be superheroes. With that introduction out of the way, the shot flipped so we could see who she was talking to, and there - sitting in a trio of chairs inside an otherwise empty, pink room were Willis, McAvoy and Jackson. Of course we assumed we'd see all three of these characters in one spot at the same time eventually, but leading off the trailer with this reveal was honestly a little shocking.
From there, we caught up a bit with Willis' David Dunn (we see him telling a woman in a bar that he's "In security", which led to a shot of him tossing some chump into a wall), Jackson's Elijah Price (unshaven, grayer, wild-eyed and confined) and McAvoy's Kevin (seen menacing a quartet of bound cheerleaders inside some sorta warehouse space). It wasn't entirely clear how all three of these characters would be brought together, but Jackson had a line of dialogue in there which indicated that - as we suspected - Price and Kevin might just end up teaming up against David Dunn. That'll be a helluva thing to see.
This footage looked somewhat action-heavy (a few fistfights, a shot of McAvoy running on all fours like a dog), and also didn't shy away from the pulpy, comic book essence of the franchise (a few moments were set inside a comic book store; one pair of shots in particular was framed around sections labeled "Heroes" and "Villains"). Willis looked engaged by the material, Jackson appeared to be having a ball playing Glass again (prior to the trailer, Jackson said: "Finally my character gets the title role in a motherfucking movie!"), and it was honestly thrilling to see more of McAvoy as Kevin, the oddly lovable psychopath who made Split so damn memorable.
The whole thing wrapped with a shot of Jackson in his wheelchair, a voice off-screen asking, "What is your name?"
Jackson: "First name, Mister. Last name..." and then a cut to the title: Glass. Huge round of applause.
If you were hyped at the curveball ending Shyamalan delivered with Split, I think you're going to be very, very pleased with the trailer for Glass. Hopefully Universal and Blumhouse unleash this footage upon the world shortly, not only because I can't wait for y'all to get a look at it...but because I'm dying to see it again.
Glass arrives on January 18th, 2019, but I'm hoping Shyamalan will bring this one to Fantastic Fest (hey, M. Night: we kept your secrets once before, and we're prepared to do it again! Come visit us in Austin!) in September. Let's all cross our fingers.
