James McAvoy Takes Over For Joaquin Phoenix in New M. Night Shyamalan Thriller

I haven't seen The Visit, but I've heard some surprisingly decent things about it, considering it's a movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The filmmaker had been in a horrendous downward spiral over the past few years, but some people are saying that his low-budget horror movie is something of a return to form. Shyamalan is reteaming with producer Jason Blum for his next project, a supernatural thriller that was once set to reunite the writer/director with Joaquin Phoenix, who starred alongside Mel Gibson in 2004's Signs and Bryce Dallas Howard in The Village.

But now THR reports that X-Men star James McAvoy has replaced Phoenix on the movie, and talks with Phoenix apparently never made it past the discussion stages. The plot of the new movie is being kept under wraps, but with someone as high-profile as McAvoy on board, it will presumably be a more ambitious movie than The Visit, which only cost around $5 million to make. I don't imagine it will be that much more, though: Blum has become one of the most efficient and effective producers in town specifically because he keeps his budgets minimal, maximizing profits when his films start to rake it in at the box office.

It would have been cool to see Shyamalan reunite with Phoenix, but McAvoy is a fine actor in his own right. Hopefully he'll help the embattled director continue his upward trajectory.