Universal impressed the nation’s exhibitors at Cinemacon Wednesday with the first footage of M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller Glass, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, James McAvoy and Sarah Paulson. Shyamalan told the audience at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas that Glass is the “first truly grounded comic book movie.”
Jackson added, “It’s about time I got the title role in my own motherf—ing movie.”
All four stars appeared on the stage, and the footage set up Paulson as a psychologist dealing with the three other characters, who she notes all believe that they are superheroes. What followed was a series of scenes with the characters interacting with each other — with Willis’ character attempting to stop an apocalyptic outcome.
Glass brings together the narratives of Shyamalan’s Unbreakable, which was released in 2000 through Disney, and last year’s Split, from Universal. Shyamalan is self-financing. Universal, Blumhouse and Shyamalan first unveiled plans for Glass last year.
From Unbreakable, Willis returns as David Dunn and Jackson is back as Elijah Price, best known by his pseudonym Mr. Glass. Joining from Split are McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy, the only captive to survive an encounter with McAvoy’s the Beast.
Universal will handle domestic distribution, while Buena Vista International is on board for international territories. Glass opens domestically on Jan. 18.
