# Glass (2019 film)
**Glass** is a 2019 American superhero thriller written and directed by [M. Night Shyamalan](https://www.edgepedia.org/m-night-shyamalan) that brings together the characters of his films *Unbreakable* (2000) and *Split* (2016) in a single crossover story, serving as the conclusion of a trilogy begun nineteen years earlier.[1](https://www.timeout.com/film/m-night-shyamalan-writing-is-torture-for-me) It stars [Bruce Willis](https://www.edgepedia.org/bruce-willis) as David Dunn, James McAvoy as Kevin Wendell Crumb and his superhuman alter ego the Beast, and [Samuel L. Jackson](https://www.edgepedia.org/samuel-l-jackson) as Elijah Price, the criminal mastermind whose schemes set the two against each other.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/glass_2019) The film was released on January 18, 2019 in the United States, after January 16-17 openings in France, Indonesia, and other countries.[3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/glass/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | M. Night Shyamalan, who wrote the screenplay and produced with Jason Blum, Ashwin Rajan, and Marc Bienstock[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/glass_2019) |
| Release | January 18, 2019 in the U.S. (wide); January 16-17 openings in France, Indonesia, and other countries[3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/glass/) |
| Cast | Bruce Willis (David Dunn), James McAvoy (Kevin Wendell Crumb / The Beast), Samuel L. Jackson (Elijah Price), Sarah Paulson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Spencer Treat Clark, Charlayne Woodard[4](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1029251-cs-interview-m-night-shyamalan-on-the-evolution-of-glass) |
| Budget | $20,000,000, financed largely by Shyamalan himself[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Glass-%282019%29) • [4](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1029251-cs-interview-m-night-shyamalan-on-the-evolution-of-glass) |
| Box office | $111,048,468 domestic, $135,950,571 international, $246,999,039 worldwide; opening weekend $40,328,920[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Glass-%282019%29) |
| Critical response | 37% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 411 reviews and 66% from audiences; Metascore of 43 from 53 reviews[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/glass_2019) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6823368/criticreviews/) |
| Distribution | Universal Pictures domestically, Buena Vista International internationally; produced by Blinding Edge Pictures and Blumhouse Productions[3](https://d23.com/a-to-z/glass/) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/glass_2019) |
| Runtime and rating | 128 minutes, rated PG-13 for violence including some bloody images, thematic elements, and language[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Glass-%282019%29) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
Following the conclusion of *Split*, David Dunn uses his superhuman abilities to track down Kevin Wendell Crumb's superhuman figure, the Beast, in a series of escalating encounters, while Elijah Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Glass-%282019%29) The three are thrown into a psychiatric hospital because of their superhero delusions.[7](https://time.com/5503796/glass-unbreakable-split-reference/) [Sarah Paulson](https://www.edgepedia.org/sarah-paulson) joins the cast as a psychiatrist who specializes in individuals who believe they are superheroes, and [Anya Taylor-Joy](https://www.edgepedia.org/anya-taylor-joy) reprises her role as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with the Beast.[4](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1029251-cs-interview-m-night-shyamalan-on-the-evolution-of-glass)
The film closes out threads from both earlier entries. Joseph Dunn, David's son, is again played by Spencer Treat Clark, and Elijah's mother is again played by [Charlayne Woodard](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlayne-woodard); Clark had appeared in *[Unbreakable](https://www.edgepedia.org/unbreakable-film)* as a six-year-old.[4](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1029251-cs-interview-m-night-shyamalan-on-the-evolution-of-glass) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-glass-m-night-shyamalan-cinematic-universe-20190110-story.html) In the story, Joseph discovers that Kevin's father was killed in the same train accident that David survived, the catastrophe Elijah caused in *Unbreakable*, so that Elijah, as the film's account has it, created two superheroes with one catastrophe.[7](https://time.com/5503796/glass-unbreakable-split-reference/)
### The ending and the refusal of a sequel
The final act places the showdown not at the top of Philadelphia's tallest building, the setting Elijah plans from a magazine cover headline calling the tower a "marvel," but outside the mental hospital, where he can control the cameras and leak the footage to the world; the placement was read as a deliberate rebuke of blockbuster superhero conventions.[7](https://time.com/5503796/glass-unbreakable-split-reference/) • [14](https://time.com/5504533/glass-ending-explained/) Shyamalan has said he does not want to make a sequel to *Glass*, and the leads' fates leave obvious paths for a follow-up unused.[15](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/01/glass-twist-sarah-paulson-bruce-willis-dies)
## The long road to a crossover
*Unbreakable* opened in 2000 as a critical hit, but fans, and Shyamalan's own stars, had been asking about a sequel since it premiered.[9](https://www.hotpress.com/culture/m-night-shyamalan-making-glass-22765829) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-glass-m-night-shyamalan-cinematic-universe-20190110-story.html) The connection arrived obliquely: when *Split* premiered in 2017, its final minutes revealed that it was actually a sequel to *Unbreakable*, and Shyamalan later confirmed in interviews that the plot of *Split* was originally written as the third act of *Unbreakable*.[7](https://time.com/5503796/glass-unbreakable-split-reference/) *Split* grossed over $278 million worldwide on a budget of $9 million, and the film's success led to *Glass*.[9](https://www.hotpress.com/culture/m-night-shyamalan-making-glass-22765829) • [10](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/james-mcavoy-f-bomb-laced-take-being-friends-samuel-l-jackson-fomo)
Surprise extended to the cast. [James McAvoy](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-mcavoy) said that during the first weeks of shooting *Split* he had no idea the film was set in the same universe as *Unbreakable*; Shyamalan described the reveal as something he planned for *Split* to be the connective tissue between the two worlds.[11](https://nerdist.com/article/glass-split-unbreakable-james-mcavoy-samuel-l-jackson-m-night-shyamalan-interview/) • [12](https://www.visualhollywood.com/glass-2019-production-notes) Shyamalan also revealed that an earlier version of the film existed: essentially the beginning of *Glass*, the parking lot sequence, and its ending, attached to *Split* and *Unbreakable*, formed the original conception of the movie.[4](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1029251-cs-interview-m-night-shyamalan-on-the-evolution-of-glass)
## Production on a self-financed budget
Shyamalan insisted on making the film cheaply for Blumhouse, with the budget reported at around $20 million, which he financed himself.[4](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1029251-cs-interview-m-night-shyamalan-on-the-evolution-of-glass) He gave himself specific limits, including only $800,000 for visual effects.[4](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1029251-cs-interview-m-night-shyamalan-on-the-evolution-of-glass) His first cut ran three hours and twenty minutes, and the film ultimately went through extensive editing that produced many deleted scenes.[13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvigz312gu4)
Music posed a specific problem, because the film is a sequel to two movies from two different generations, and the score had to reconcile the musical styles of those two generations, according to Shyamalan.[12](https://www.visualhollywood.com/glass-2019-production-notes)
## Reception and box office
The film opened on January 18, 2019 in 3,841 theaters and took in $40,328,920 on its opening weekend, 36.3% of its eventual domestic total of $111,048,468.[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Glass-%282019%29) International receipts of $135,950,571 brought the worldwide total to $246,999,039, about 12.3 times the production budget, with the domestic share at 45.0% of the global gross.[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Glass-%282019%29) The film was released on home video on April 2, 2019 by Universal Home Entertainment.[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Glass-%282019%29)
Critics were less enthusiastic than audiences. Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 37% Tomatometer from 411 reviews against a 66% audience score, and its critics consensus holds that the film "displays a few glimmers of M. Night Shyamalan at his twisty world-building best, but ultimately disappoints as the conclusion to the writer-director's long-gestating trilogy."[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/glass_2019) Metacritic gave it a Metascore of 43 from 53 reviews.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6823368/criticreviews/) Reviewers singled out the same fault lines: the *Hollywood Reporter*'s John DeFore called it a mixed bag as a trilogy-closer, tying earlier strands together pleasingly while working too hard to appear uniquely brainy in comics-inspired stories, and *Total Film*'s Matt Maytum found it easier to admire than to love.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6823368/criticreviews/)
## References
1. [M Night Shyamalan: 'Screenwriting is torture for me', Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/film/m-night-shyamalan-writing-is-torture-for-me)
2. [Glass (2019), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/glass_2019)
3. [Glass (film), D23](https://d23.com/a-to-z/glass/)
4. [CS Interview: M. Night Shyamalan on the Evolution of Glass, ComingSoon.net](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1029251-cs-interview-m-night-shyamalan-on-the-evolution-of-glass)
5. [Glass (2019) - Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Glass-%282019%29)
6. [Glass (2019) - Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6823368/criticreviews/)
7. [All of the Hidden Unbreakable and Split References in Glass, TIME](https://time.com/5503796/glass-unbreakable-split-reference/)
8. [M. Night Shyamalan strikes back ... again ... now with his own cinematic universe, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-glass-m-night-shyamalan-cinematic-universe-20190110-story.html)
9. [M Night Shyamalan: On the making of Glass, Hot Press](https://www.hotpress.com/culture/m-night-shyamalan-making-glass-22765829)
10. [James McAvoy's F-Bomb-Laced Take On Being Friends With Samuel L. Jackson, CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/james-mcavoy-f-bomb-laced-take-being-friends-samuel-l-jackson-fomo)
11. [James McAvoy Didn't Realize SPLIT Was Setting Up a Sequel, Nerdist](https://nerdist.com/article/glass-split-unbreakable-james-mcavoy-samuel-l-jackson-m-night-shyamalan-interview/)
12. [GLASS (2019) Production Notes, Visual Hollywood](https://www.visualhollywood.com/glass-2019-production-notes)
13. [Glass: M. Night Shyamalan Interview, Collider Interviews (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvigz312gu4)
14. [Let's Talk About the Ending of Glass, TIME](https://time.com/5504533/glass-ending-explained/)
15. [Glass's Sarah Paulson on the Film's Big Twist and That Crazy Fight Scene, Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/01/glass-twist-sarah-paulson-bruce-willis-dies)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Superhero and comic-franchise film entries › Comic films of the 2010s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license