Dakota Fanning stars in director Ishana Night Shyamalan’s new horror film “The Watchers”, opening in theaters on June 7th. Fanning’s breakthrough performance was in 2001’s “I Am Sam”, opposite Sean Penn, which earned her a Critics Choice Award for Best Young Performer and a Best Supporting Actress SAG Awards nomination.
In 2003, Fanning co-starred with Brittany Murphy in “Uptown Girls” and Mike Myers in “The Cat in the Hat”. The next year: she headlined “Man on Fire” with Denzel Washington. Last year they reunited for the conclusion in Sony and director Antoine Fuqua’s hit action trilogy, “The Equalizer 3”.
In 2005, Fanning joined Tom Cruise and director Steven Spielberg for blockbuster “War of the Worlds” and Kurt Russell for horse drama “Dreamer”. Fanning played Fern in 2006’s star-studded adaptation of the beloved book “Charlotte’s Web”. And she was part of the ensemble of 2008 drama “The Secret Life of Bees”, with Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okenedo.
Fanning had two films that opened on February 6th, 2009 — the animated “Coraline” from Focus Features and LAIKA, and Summit Entertainment action film “Push”, co-starring Chris Evans. She joined “The Twilight Saga” that year as Jane Volturi in “New Moon” and portrayed rocker Cherie Currie in 2010’s “The Runaways”. Following roles in a number of indies, including “Effie Gray” and “American Pastoral”, Fanning returned to mainstream fare with 2018’s “Ocean’s 8” and 2019’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”.
“The Watchers” is the first of a Shyamalan double feature for Warner Bros. this summer, with Ishana’s dad, M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap” coming out on August 9th. Fanning has fans of all generations, and I think many who are old enough to see “The Watchers” will go. Horror has been hot in 2024, and this is also counter-programming to Sony’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” for the first full weekend of June.