Will We Ever Get The Visit 2?
After winning over critics and audiences alike with the phenomenal The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan had his pick of the litter in terms of what he could do next. Sadly, his career seemed derailed after a string of flops with After Earth and The Last Airbender. A lot of people wondered if he had lost the touch that garnered him a Best Director Oscar nomination so early in his career, but he proved he still had what it takes to craft suspenseful thrillers with well-executed twists in 2015's The Visit.
The low-budget, found-footage horror flick combined elements of thrillers and comedies to give audiences something they hadn't really seen from the filmmaker in the past. With solid reviews and an intriguing premise involving two kids who go to visit their secluded grandparents, about whom something seems off, the film put Shyamalan back in the spotlight as it grossed over $98 million against a budget of $5 million (via Box Office Mojo). It wasn't just good news for the studio but an excellent turn of events for the director himself, as he had actually borrowed the budget against his house, so he really needed it to do well (via Rolling Stone).
Taking into account the film's success and relatively low budget, it would sure seem like a sequel could be in the cards. Combined with the renewed popularity of Kathryn Hahn, who plays the mother in The Visit and recently had a scene-stealing role as Agatha Harkness on WandaVision, it's now the perfect time to get The Visit 2 off the ground.
So how likely are we to one day see a follow-up with Nana and Pop-Pop? It would probably be best not to hold your breath.
M. Night Shyamalan doesn't seem interested in more sequels
After the critical and commercial success of The Visit, Shyamalan came out with another original film, Split, which follows a man with multiple personalities who kidnaps a group of young girls. Of course, this movie turned out to be set within the Unbreakable universe, leading to a crossover between David Dunn (Bruce Willis) and the Horde (James McAvoy) – Glass. Glass did well at the box office but also resulted in similar reviews to what Shyamalan received earlier in his career. As such, Shyamalan has taken a firm stance that he's really no longer interested in pursuing sequels.
Since it's essentially a superhero movie, it made sense to pursue a sequel to Unbreakable, especially in the current climate where multiple superhero movies come out annually within shared universes. However, The Visit is a fairly straightforward horror film with a conclusive ending, so any attempts at a sequel may come across as superfluous.
In the aftermath of Glass, Shyamalan dove headfirst into another wholly original story — albeit one loosely based on a Swiss graphic novel — titled Old. It's set to come out in July 2021, and while anything's possible after the director's next venture into horror, The Visit 2 just doesn't appear likely.
What could The Visit 2 even be about?
Spoilers for the ending of The Visit ahead!
The big twist of The Visit is that the old people the two kids have been spending the week with aren't actually their grandparents. They've escaped from a mental hospital and killed the real grandparents, and they become increasingly violent with the children, which forces the youngsters to kill them so that they can escape right when their mother and authorities arrive at the house.
Seeing as how the disturbed geriatrics are now deceased, there doesn't inherently seem like a direction for a potential sequel to go. After all, it's not like they're supernatural beings who could really be alive after getting stabbed and beaten to death. However, Bustle offers an intriguing direction for where a follow-up could go: Given the current popularity of Kathryn Hahn, a sequel could focus on the mother, Loretta, who decides to pay a visit to her ex-husband and his new girlfriend or wife. She could go on this trip with her boyfriend from the first film whom we hear about but never see.
This time around, the kids could be tertiary characters who don't really have a presence while Loretta and her boyfriend stay with her ex for a while, and perhaps her old husband and his new partner have a few screws missing and decide to torment the adults. It could almost be viewed as a way for the mom to serve penance for placing her kids in a dangerous situation in the first movie. It's definitely a long shot, but at least fans can take solace in knowing that Shyamalan gave us one of the best found footage films ever with The Visit, even if it remains a standalone project.