"It never really worked," argues David Weitzner, the former head of worldwide marketing for Universal and an adjunct professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. "It's pomposity on the part of studios to think that the public is going to respond to an advertising message that says to see the film because it's from the director of another film. It's stupid and to some degree, it's fueled by ego." ...

Mr. Shyamalan, who will get his name above the title for The Happening, still believes that a director's name on the marquee — one that is not Steven Spielberg's — can sell a blockbuster as easily as a star's can.

"The problem is the assumption that if I am selling the movie — because I'm selling me — that I'm being egotistical. If Will Smith did the same thing, it would be perceived very differently," he said. "You're supposed to be hidden if you're a director. That's a rule that who said in the movie business?"

Manoj, Manoj, Manoj. Seriously — have your lawyer add a clue to that pricey contract rider of yours. No one cares about your ego, just your tone-deafness: Recent tracking has The Happening distantly trailing The Incredible Hulk among June 13 openings, with only 54% of survey respondents noting Awareness of the film and a genuinely tragic 2% acknowledging Un-Aided Awareness. In other words, it's conceivable that maybe "Oscar-nominee Mark Wahlberg" and Zooey Deschanel have greater name value among The Happening's target demo than "M. Night Shymalan." We're just saying.

But that beingsaid, there is no truth to the death-knell rumors that The Happening won't screen for critics; we're told the studio is putting the film out there June 10 — two days after its planned junket and not in time for weekly critics' deadlines. We'll be there, naturally, hoping all the while his newfound press-shyness doesn't take; we kind of just want to take the poor bastard out for a drink.

UPDATE: A Fox spokesman sends word that press will have the opportunity to view The Happening during the junket on June 8-9. Hooray.

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

• Shyamalan's Hollywood Horror Story, With Twist [NYT]
• 'Hulk' Set to Stomp Shyamalan's 'Happening' [Fantasy Moguls]

In his intro to an exclusive scene on Yahoo! Movies, the director manages to liken his latest to The Godfather, The Exorcist, The Birds, and the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and describes The Happening as being "the scariest movie that I've ever made." On that last point, we think the director has truly delivered—at least where incredibly bad filmmaking is capable of inducing bloodcurdling terror. Collider.com ran their early review yesterday. Be warned, Manoj Twists are revealed! M. NIGHT SPOILERALERT!

"The Happening" is a terrible, terrible movie. I mean, it's bad on an epic scale. It's so bad that I can't possibly tell you how bad it is without understating the point or making it sound like I'm picking on the film. But let me stress: this is not pent-up Shyamalan aggression or a desire to see him fail. This is bad in a jaw-dropping "they can't really be serious, can they?" kind of way. The closest comparison I can draw is to Neil LaBute's "Wicker Man." [...]

The most obvious fault in "The Happening" is the acting — in particular Wahlberg's performance. I'm saying this with no hyperbole, but Wahlberg might very well give the worst performance I've ever seen in anything...I can't help but feel that Shyamalan — intentionally or otherwise — is ultimately to blame for forcing some truly awful line readings.

[THIS IS THE SPOILER PART:] It's plants that are responsible. They've decided to wipe out humanity and release the neuro-toxin as their natural weapon.... What Shyamalan quickly finds, though, is that it's very, very hard to menacingly cut to an evil-looking tree. That doesn't stop him from trying, though, and he inexplicably adds wind as a way of livening up the scenes. When the leaves of a tree start to blow, evil's afoot.

While none of this bodes too well for Fox, or lovers of not-awful cinema, the Pollyanna in us can't help but seek out the silver lining: And we thought of one! At the very least, some pants-pissingly hilarious YouTube mashups are surely just a few months away, giving Nicolas Cage in a bear suit clocking some Texas Polygamist Wife-looking chick a run for its money with a montage prominently featuring Marky Mark going postal on a yellow poplar.

• The Happening Trailers & Video Clips (3 videos) [Yahoo]
• An Early Review of M. Night Shyamalan's THE HAPPENING [Collider.com]