M. Night Shyamalan’s R-Rated Thriller With An All-Time Rotten Tomatoes Record Returns As A Streaming Juggernaut

Published Sep 30, 2026, 9:49 AM EDT

Nick Bythrow is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant. He has been writing for the site since September 2022. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2022, where he triple majored in Journalism, Communications, and Media Studies. When he's not writing about TV and movies for ScreenRant and his blog, Frayed Branches, Nick is penning speculative fiction and poetry on Amazon. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.

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Warning: This article makes mention of suicide.

M. Night Shyamalan's R-rated thriller movie holding an all-time Rotten Tomatoes record has returned as a streaming juggernaut 18 years later. Shyamalan's prolific movie career has included a number of widely-recognized films that have helped define him as a filmmaker. From the Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson-led Unbreakable, to more recent movies like Josh Hartnett's Trap, Shyamalan has found his footing as a unique storyteller across various genres. However, many of his movies fall under the thriller category, including some of his most record-breaking installments.

Such is the case with The Happening, a 2008 sci-fi thriller following a natural disaster that leads to a string of mass suicides. The movie stars Mark Wahlberg as Elliot Moore, a high school science teacher, who attempts to survive the nationwide, borderline apocalyptic event alongside his family. This includes his wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel), and a number of other survivors they meet along the way. The movie was a box office success upon release, earning $168.4 million against a budget of around $60 million. And now, it's achieved a new accomplishment at home.

Shyamalan's The Happening Is One Of Streaming's Biggest Hits

The Happening is now one of the biggest hits on streaming, another major milestone for Shyamalan's home releases. According to data from September 30, 2026, the movie is the Number 5 movie in the United States on Peacock. This makes it one of the biggest movies on streaming as of writing, putting it ahead of other major releases on the platform like The Spongebob SquarePants Movie and The Twilight Saga: New Moon. It's also ahead of Signs, one of Shyamalan's most critically acclaimed movies of his career.

The streaming success comes just one day after his more recent thriller Knock at the Cabin made waves on Netflix. It also comes just one day after the surprise premiere of his supernatural romantic thriller Remain at Beyond Fest, months before the movie's February 5, 2027 theatrical release date. The Happening's success is a fitting addition to the jam-packed level of positivity surrounding Shyamalan's career this week. However, it's also the biggest outlier due to an unfortunate review record it holds.

The Thriller Holds An Infamous Place In Shyamalan's Filmography

The Happening is considered one of Shyamalan's worst movies of all time by critics and audiences alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie holds a 17% score with critics and a 24% audience score, the latter being the lowest audience score for any movie he's ever made. It was nominated for four Golden Raspberry Awards, which are given out to the worst movies of the year. It was panned by critics and audiences as a messy movie with a nonsensical plot, with a lack of both tension and strong characters.

In recent years, however, The Happening has been reevaluated as an intentionally comedic B-movie, which, according to cast and crew at the time, was the original intention of the movie. This has led to it gaining a small but dedicated cult following, as many elements of the movie appear to be played up on purpose to make it seem akin to a low-budget horror film. With this intention in mind, it's not too surprising the movie has earned its place among Shyamalan's trending streaming hits, even if it didn't earn initially positive reception.