Poster © Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreDrama, Mystery & Thriller
RatedPG-13
Runtime1 hr 48 mins
ReleasedJuly 30, 2004
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorM. Night Shyamalan
StarringJoaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Bryce Dallas Howard
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The Village (2004)
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| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| The Village's Details | |
| Genre | Drama, Mystery & Thriller |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 07/26/2004 (premiere); 07/30/2004 (United States); 08/06/2004 (United Kingdom) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 48 mins |
| Budget | $60–71.7M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| The Village's Interests | |
| General | Watchtowers, yellow cloaks, red berries, lantern-lit borders, quiet wooden porches, locked wooden boxes. |
| Music | James Newton Howard, with Hilary Hahn's solo violin carrying the whole thing. |
| Movies | Signs (2002). The previous Shyamalan, more cornfields, same slow dread. |
| Television | Wayward Pines. Another picture-perfect little town with a lot of rules. |
| Heroes | Ivy Walker. Blind, fearless, and sharper than every elder in town. |
| The Village's Crew | |
| Director | M. Night Shyamalan |
| Writers | M. Night Shyamalan |
| Producers | Sam Mercer, Scott Rudin, M. Night Shyamalan |
| Cinematography | Roger Deakins |
| Music | James Newton Howard |
| Edited By | Christopher Tellefsen |
| Production | Touchstone Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions |
| Distributed By | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
A C CinemaScore is what you earn when you sell a creature feature and deliver a slow, sad period romance with a gimmick. On its own terms, parts of it are lovely. Bryce Dallas Howard is the real find as Ivy, a blind young woman who is braver and funnier than anyone around her, and her scenes with Joaquin Phoenix’s quiet Lucius are tender. M. Night Shyamalan stages the creatures well: flashes of red in the trees, a porch at night, a hand held out in the dark. Then he does what he does. Everything bends toward one final reveal, and once you know it, the earlier scenes play like a long setup for a punchline. William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver are stuck delivering stiff, old-timey speeches. It made $256.7 million worldwide on a reported $60M to $71.7M. A 5.2 because Howard is wonderful and the trick is the whole show. $2,032 says you leave anything red at home before a walk in the woods and claim it’s a fashion choice.
What works: Bryce Dallas Howard gives a warm, gutsy performance, and the creature scenes have real dread.
What doesn’t: Everything exists to serve the final reveal, and the elders talk in stiff, formal speeches that drain the life out of the drama.
Who it’s for: Shyamalan fans who like a slow burn and don’t mind feeling a little tricked.
Spoilers
The village is a hideaway in a modern-day wildlife preserve, built by the elders to escape the outside world, and the creatures are costumes the elders wear to keep everyone from leaving. Ivy makes it through the woods, gets medicine from a park ranger who agrees to keep the secret, and the elders vote to keep the lie going.
Out in the Pennsylvania countryside, a tiny farming village lives by strict rules. Nobody goes into the woods. Nobody wears red. The creatures in the trees, known only as Those We Don't Speak Of, keep a truce with the town, and nobody wants to test it. Quiet, stubborn Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) wants to cross the woods to reach the towns for medicine. The elders, led by Edward Walker (William Hurt) and including Lucius's mother Alice (Sigourney Weaver), say no. Edward's blind daughter Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard) has her own ideas about Lucius. M. Night Shyamalan directs. One hundred eight minutes, zero red berries.
Anyone who respects a good rule and a good lantern. Stay on the path.
| Bryce Dallas Howard | Ivy Elizabeth Walker |
| Joaquin Phoenix | Lucius Hunt |
| Adrien Brody | Noah Percy |
| Sigourney Weaver | Alice Hunt |
| William Hurt | Edward Walker |
| Brendan Gleeson | August Nicholson |
| Cherry Jones | Mrs. Clack |
| Judy Greer | Kitty Walker |
| Michael Pitt | Finton Coin |
| Celia Weston | Vivian Percy |
| Jayne Atkinson | Tabitha Walker |
| Frank Collison | Victor |
| Jesse Eisenberg | Jamison |
| Fran Kranz | Christop Crane |
| Liz Stauber | Beatrice |
| Charlie Hofheimer | Kevin Lupinski |
| M. Night Shyamalan | Jay |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 6.6 / 10 (300,379 votes) → 6.6 / 10 (300,417 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $256.7M; Domestic box office $114.2M; Opening weekend $50.7M; Profit / loss (est.) +$29.6M; Rotten Tomatoes 43%; CinemaScore C; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 43% (220 reviews); Metacritic 44 / 100; CinemaScore C; IMDb users 6.6 / 10 (300,379 votes); movie.guru score 3.6.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.