The Happening (2008)

A science teacher, his wife, and a young girl struggle to survive a plague that causes those infected to commit suicide.

Director:

M. Night Shyamalan

Writer:

M. Night Shyamalan

Stars:

Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo

3 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Wahlberg	...	Elliot Moore
Zooey Deschanel	...	Alma Moore
John Leguizamo	...	Julian
Ashlyn Sanchez	...	Jess
Betty Buckley	...	Mrs. Jones
Spencer Breslin	...	Josh
Robert Bailey Jr.	...	Jared
Frank Collison	...	Nursery Owner
Jeremy Strong	...	Private Auster
Alan Ruck	...	Principal
Victoria Clark	...	Nursery Owner's Wife
M. Night Shyamalan	...	Joey (voice)
Alison Folland	...	Woman Reading on Bench with Hair Pin
Kristen Connolly	...	Woman Reading on Bench
Cornell Womack	...	Construction Foreman

Storyline

Elliot Moore is a high school science teacher who quizzes his class one day about an article in the New York Times. It's about the sudden, mysterious disappearance of bees. Yet again Nature is doing something inexplicable, and whatever science has to say about it will be, in the end, only a theory. Scientists will bring out more theories, but no explanations, when a more urgent dilemma hits the planet. It begins in Central Park. Suddenly and inexplicably, the behavior of everyone in the park changes in a most bizarre and horrible way. Soon, the strange behavior spreads throughout the city and beyond. Elliot, his wife, Alma, and Jess, the young daughter of a friend, will only have theories to guide them where to run and where to hide. But theories may not be enough.

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Plot Keywords:

nature | unprecedented | no particular reason | grey matter | artificial plant | 

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Taglines:

We've Sensed It. We've Seen The Signs. Now... It's Happening.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violent and disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

13 June 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Green Planet

Filming Locations:

Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$48,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$30,517,109, 15 June 2008

Gross USA:

$64,506,874

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$163,403,799

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, UTV Motion Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As of January 2019, this is the shortest film of M. Night Shyamalan's career, with a running time of 91 minutes.

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Goofs

In Philadelphia, the characters board a train to Harrisburg, which is in south central Pennsylvania. It stops in Filbert soon after. Filbert is south of Pittsburgh, far west of Harrisburg.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Woman Reading on Bench with Hair Pin: I forgot where I am.
Woman Reading on Bench: You're at the place where the killers meet to decide what to do with the crippled girl.

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Crazy Credits

Moving clouds form the backdrop for the opening and closing credits. On the end credits, they've become stormclouds with lightning. On the end credits, M. Night Shyamalan's name vanishes.

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Alternate Versions

SPOILER: The DVD contains a deleted scene of a piano recital that suddenly becomes tragic; there's also extended versions of the lion attack and porch shooting scenes that had to be dialed back to avoid an NC-17 rating.

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Connections

Referenced in WatchMojo: Top 10 Actors Who Hate Their Own Movies (2016)

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Soundtracks

Piano Concerto No. 21 In C K467 ('Elvira Madigan': 2.Andante)
(1785)
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Radu Lupu, Uri Segal and English Chamber Orchestra (as The English Chamber Orchestra)
Courtesy of Decca Music Group Ltd.
Under License from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

come again?

This movie can be summed up very easily, interesting but lacking plot. M Night spent too much of his budget on casting Wahlberg to afford sufficient special effects to give this movie a cleaner look. With as poor as the effects in this movie are it makes you wonder what they spent the 60 million dollar budget on, they clearly could not have spent anywhere near that The Matrix had a 63 million dollar budget...

This is a suspenseful thriller with a mediocre plot. By far it is M Night's worst movie. There is a reason why this movie was written, directed, and produced by him, because no one else was willing to take a chance with it and after seeing the film you will understand why.