by Lee Tistaert

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Outside of all these neato subjects, we have the important presence of Hollywood top-dollar actor, Mel Gibson. The 46 year old star is one of the biggest movie figures of today and can be, for many, a single reason to go see a movie. Gibson has a wide range of fans ranging from teens to older adults, as well as reaching both genders, and has captured his crowd through films such as the Lethal Weapon collection, Braveheart, Ransom ($34.2 million debut; $12,786 average) and What Women Want ($33.6 million debut; $11,160 average). His films of the recent years have gathered opening weekends in the vicinity of $20 to the mid $30 millions at the box office. He is one of the several actors in the business who is almost guaranteed muscular returns from a project, as he can place a line down the block in a second.

Despite Mel Gibson mostly earning formulaic patterns in ticket sale returns from movie to movie, his previous films before Signs have been simple ideas when the Shyamalan release is much larger in scale. Ransom had one of the biggest aids of having Gibson along with the direction of Ron Howard. But when comparing a kidnapping to extra terrestrial talk, the answer is quite clear of which is more substantial in size. Ransom performed excellently, but the subject matter of Signs attracts a grip more of attention.

Mel Gibson wouldn't be here if it weren't for the direction by M. Night Shyamalan. The writer/director carried a bumpy track record in the early days of his filmmaking career, but through an onslaught of anger and deeply emotional after effects of his career not blossoming, he wrote the script for The Sixth Sense, which to the industry's surprise, changed the way audiences looked at movie climaxes. In the book of film, 6th Sense is a landmark, as it was a huge comeback for Shyamalan and was the one big break of his life; moviegoers were introduced to his name.

After The Sixth Sense became a box office phenomenon, with a domestic peak that reached $293.5 million, filmgoers across the nation had high expectations for a Shyamalan flick, as we all knew what he was capable of achieving in the way of telling a story. Then the writer/director brought out yet another thriller starring Bruce Willis entitled, Unbreakable. The film did not boast well overall, as some loved it while others despised it. And that was overly obvious by its box office performance, which halted at $95.0 million.

Now we have Signs, a movie filmgoers know is by the one and only M. Night Shyamalan, the director that shocked us and reminded us that paying closely attention in some films is useful advice. He brought more brains and guts into the dramatic thriller genre, and nowadays The Sixth Sense is very often times referenced to when a climax shocks an audience. Shyamalan made it so big that he is one of the more sought after directors in the business, constantly declining to direct anything he hasn't written himself, as he has firmly stated that he enjoys being more of an individual writer than a collaborator with a writing team. The filmmaker co-wrote Stuart Little during the daylight hours while writing 6th Sense in the late-night portion, but only filming Sixth Sense himself. He was also confronted to write Indiana Jones 4 with Traffic screenwriter, Stephen Gaghan, eventually passing. And while some do not appreciate Night for various reasons, his declining for Indy 4 sends off a positive signal that just because he'll receive exposure to a gigantic crowd doesn't mean he'll sign on.

While Shyamalan and his producers went loud and aggressive regarding the premise to The Sixth Sense in its marketing campaign, a little more hush-hush surrounding Unbreakable, the filmmaker finally walks down the extremely humble path of advertising his feature with purely teasing clips that do not tell a whole lot about the story...but it's that precise reason Signs is picking up humungous buzz. The movie is by far the most mysterious looking flick of the summer, and very possibly the year itself. By handing moviegoers bits and pieces of information, folks are wanting to know more in eager anticipation, and more is what Night wants them to discover inside the doors. It's quite possibly one of the most creative and effective ad-campaigns in recent time, as generally you want to show off what you have in store. But in this director's vision for Signs, you want to show off what you don't show yet. Very tricky, very remarkable and quite frankly, downright brilliant.

Adding to the cast, 27 year old actor, Joaquin Pheonix, will be assisting in the draw power of its audience targeting. Pheonix is a rising actor most moviegoers are familiar with. He once starred in Parenthood ($100.1 million finish) as the guy not many knew back in 1989, but grew on to a supporting role in the mega-blockbuster, Gladiator ($34.8 million debut; $11,851 average - $187.7 million domestic finale), in 2000. He has been mostly cast as the co-starring character, as that is what moviegoers tend to expect, and in Signs, it is no different. Pheonix has a way with younger moviegoers, with his age being an important factor behind that. But his appeal sits strong at both males and females which gives the movie more heart. The actor also carries some of the biggest comic relief moments inside the thriller, which should play well for much of his admirers. However, Joaquin has given performances filmgoers have adored, including in To Die For and Gladiator, which lives as a great opportunity for him to lure in the fans once again.

In a consistency pattern letting folks know that he works well with children, M. Night Shyamalan features two children as supporting roles, playing Gibson's kids. Involved is Rory Culkin (no doubt at least somewhat in the pack for a Haley Joel Osment-like figure), along with the younger and feature debut actress, Abigail Breslin. Disney and Shyamalan already started off their huge campaign using the children as some of the highlights, as find a moviegoer who doesn't know that there's a monster standing outside Bo's (Breslin) room. The marketing is placing attention at nearly all the actors in play, which is a sufficient tool to spark interest and awareness from age spectrums across the board. And not only that, but our famous director even adds to the hype by placing his name big and bold before the title. So not only is this a thrilling horror tale, but about crop circles, extra terrestrials, involving a cast that offers several demographics some attachment, and a writer/director that could be considered legendary.

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