THE WATCHERS (2024): Ishana Night Shyamalan’s Thrilling Horror Film Gets “PG-13” Rating

Horror Movie The Watchers Gets PG-13 Rating

Ishana Night Shyamalan‘s upcoming horror picture, The Watchers, looks likely to be spooky but, perhaps, not too spooky as it has received a “PG-13” rating.

The Watchers, starring Dakota Fanning and Georgina Campbell, opens June 7th and has received a “PG-13” for “violence, terror and thematic elements.” Before you write this one off, though, consider that this news means that Ishana has the opportunity to duplicate her dad, M. Night Shyamalan’s success which he had with the 1999 masterful success, The Sixth Sense. Perhaps, The Watchers, is more psychological than anything else and that worked wonders for Ishana’s dad that led to The Sixth Sense earning multiple Oscar nominations and tremendous box-office results.

On the other hand, those who were looking to be grossed out (or the like) by The Watchers probably won’t find “too” violent a picture in the upcoming film. The Sixth Sense which had a PG-13, and The Village after it (which bared the same rating), both opened with huge numbers back in their day. So, this news could work in the favor of The Watchers which is going up against Bad Boys: Ride or Die on its opening weekend.

The one thing that would make New Line Cinema’s The Watchers an instant #1 box-office hit would be if people simply didn’t turn up to see Will Smith like they used to. Smith slapped a man on live TV so maybe his real-life  “bad boy” persona won’t translate into big box-office bucks again. But, the smart money is that, since two years have passed from the slap, that audiences may have forgotten Smith’s Oscar night antics. That positions The Watchers and Bad Boys: Ride or Die in a battle to the finish for number one at the box-office on the weekend of June 7th.

Before you think The Watchers may not be scary enough, remember The Ring from 2002? That film scared the hell out of the movie-going public to the tune of nearly a quarter billion dollars in box-office grosses worldwide. And, it was a damn near-perfect, terrifying movie that didn’t get any less scary because of its “PG-13” rating. It starred Naomi Watts.

Dakota Fanning and Georgina Campbell (Barbarian) are like a horror film-goer’s dream team of a leading cast. Ishana Night Shyamalan has piqued the curiosity of viewers through the very compelling and intriguing trailer for The Watchers. Now, all the forthcoming film has to do is beat out Will Smith at the box-office to put Ishana on the map as a filmmaker to watch. Could Ishana’s new film have the legs The Sixth Sense had 25 years ago? Horror fans will soon find out when the film is released June 7th.

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