Trap (2024 film)

Plot Synopsis

Philadelphia firefighter Cooper Abbott takes his teenage daughter, Riley, to a concert by pop star Lady Raven as a reward for her good grades. Upon arrival, Cooper notices an unusually heavy police presence and learns from a vendor that the FBI has intelligence that a serial killer known as the Butcher will be in attendance. Cooper is secretly the Butcher, and he checks footage on his phone of his latest captive victim, Spencer, whom he is holding in a basement. He steals the vendor's ID card and a passphrase, using them to infiltrate backstage areas and steal a police radio. Over the radio, he hears a woman, FBI profiler Dr. Josephine Grant, predicting his movements, confirming the concert is a trap.

Cooper creates a diversion with an explosion to access the roof and gather more information. Riley, confused by her father's strange behaviour, asks him to stay with her and expresses her hope to be chosen as Lady Raven's Dreamer Girl, a fan who gets to dance on stage and receive backstage access. Seeing this as a potential escape route, Cooper lies to Lady Raven's uncle, a spotter for the selection, claiming Riley recently recovered from leukemia, which leads to her being chosen. After the concert ends, Cooper finds the backstage exit is also guarded by police. He reveals his identity to Lady Raven, threatening to kill Spencer remotely if she does not help him and Riley escape in her limousine.

Lady Raven complies but asks to go to the Abbott family home, where she stalls by explaining the FBI operation to Cooper's wife, Rachel. She describes Grant's profile of the Butcher as someone with maternal issues and obsessive-compulsive disorder, unsettling Cooper. She also reveals the police found a torn ticket receipt left anonymously in a vacant house. Lady Raven then steals Cooper's phone, locks herself in a bathroom, and livestreams with Spencer, enabling a fan to locate and rescue him. She reveals Cooper's secret to Rachel, prompting Cooper to lock his family upstairs. As Cooper attempts to flee with Lady Raven, his family escapes and distracts him, allowing her to run to her limousine.

The police arrive, and Cooper escapes through a secret tunnel, disguises himself in a SWAT uniform, and drives off with Lady Raven in the limousine. After he reveals himself, she unlocks a window and incites a mob of her fans to swarm the vehicle, allowing the FBI to catch up. Cooper changes into civilian clothes and escapes the scene. He returns home to confront Rachel, who confesses she suspected him, left the receipt for police, and reported it. As Cooper decides to kill them both, Rachel persuades him to share leftover pie, which she has drugged with pills from his tool bag. Hallucinating his mother expressing pride in his display of real emotion, Cooper is captured by Grant as he walks toward her. Before being loaded into a police van, he shares a tearful embrace with Riley and secretly takes a spoke from her bicycle. In the van, he unlocks his handcuffs with the spoke and laughs to himself.

Production and Development

The film originated from M. Night Shyamalan's conversations with his daughter, singer-songwriter Saleka, about merging a concert experience with a cinematic narrative, inspired by how Prince created an album for the film Purple Rain. Shyamalan initially considered having another filmmaker direct from his idea of a thriller set at a concert but decided to helm it himself to collaborate with Saleka. The premise was partly inspired by Operation Flagship, a 1985 sting where police arrested 101 fugitives by inviting them to a fake event offering free NFL tickets. Shyamalan pitched the concept as setting The Silence of the Lambs at a Taylor Swift concert, referencing her Eras Tour. He wrote the screenplay in five and a half months, a personal record, and produced it with Marc Bienstock and Ashwin Rajan through his company, Blinding Edge Pictures.

Saleka Shyamalan stars as the pop star Lady Raven and composed fourteen songs for the film as her father wrote the script, designing them to match the onscreen action diegetically. She cited Bollywood cinema, Adele, Billie Eilish, Rihanna, Rosalía, and Taylor Swift as influences, describing Trap as a Shyamalan American version of a Bollywood movie that is grounded and the songs make sense. Josh Hartnett, who plays Cooper, avoided watching other media to make the role his own and researched psychopathy and serial killers. Hayley Mills was cast as FBI profiler Dr. Josephine Grant, written as a maternal figure to contrast Cooper's lack of empathy. Ariel Donoghue, playing Riley, attended school between filming days.

Pre-production involved extensive storyboarding and rehearsals. Shyamalan initially planned to shoot in a constricting 4:3 aspect ratio but, after discussions with cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, changed to 1.85:1, requiring the film to be re-storyboarded. The production was originally scheduled to film in Cincinnati, Ohio, in August 2023, where it qualified for over $9 million in state tax credits. However, the production relocated to Toronto, Ontario, and was granted an interim agreement on September 18, 2023, to proceed during the SAG-AFTRA strike. Filming occurred under the working title Good Grades from October 16 to December 8, 2023.

Filming in Canada

Principal photography for Trap took place entirely in Ontario, bringing a major Hollywood production to Canadian locations. The interior of the concert venue, fictionalized as Tanaka Arena, was filmed at the TD Coliseum in Hamilton, a 20,000-seat arena the production had access to for two to three months due to ongoing renovations. The exterior of the venue was portrayed by Toronto's Rogers Centre. The shoot involved complex concert sequences with thousands of extras, who were not informed of the film's plot but were given Saleka Shyamalan's music beforehand to sing along authentically. Josh Hartnett recalled extras consoling him, thinking he was nervous, unaware he was playing a serial killer.

The filming order was meticulously planned to capture the concert atmosphere. Scenes began with audience reactions while music played, followed by Saleka performing on stage, and then dialogue scenes with actors after the extras were quieted, using a beat track to maintain rhythm. Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue had to scream portions of their dialogue to be heard over the simulated concert noise. For intimate conversational shots where actors needed to look directly into the camera lens, Shyamalan employed a one-way mirror system attached to the lens, reflecting off another mirror so the actor in close-up could see their scene partner. The film was shot on 35mm film stock, with dailies sent to a lab in Los Angeles, causing a three-day wait for the crew to review footage.

Post-production was completed on June 22, 2024. The film features a subtle connection to another Shyamalan family project. A poster for The Watchers, the directorial debut of Shyamalan's other daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan, appears in the background of a scene. Both sisters worked on their films on the family property in Pennsylvania, with Saleka in a recording studio and Ishana mixing her film next door. The film's production budget was reported as $30 million.

Music and Soundtrack

The music for Trap is a central narrative element, with Saleka Shyamalan's character, Lady Raven, performing throughout the film. As her father wrote the screenplay, Saleka composed fourteen original songs designed to be performed diegetically during the concert sequences and to reflect the story's emotional beats. The official soundtrack album, Lady Raven, was released by Columbia Records on August 2, 2024, coinciding with the film's theatrical release. The album features collaborations with artists Kid Cudi and Russ, who both make cameo appearances in the film, as well as Amaarae. Three singles were released in advance of the soundtrack: Release, Save Me, and Divine.

Separate from the pop songs performed in the film, the orchestral score was composed by Herdís Stefánsdóttir. This division of labour allowed for a distinct sonic identity between the concert scenes and the thriller's suspenseful sequences. The integration of music was inspired by Shyamalan's visits to his daughter's concerts and by films like Purple Rain. The choreography for the concert performances was handled by Cora Kozaris, and a videographer recorded onstage material that was projected onto the stadium screens in real-time during filming to enhance authenticity for the extras and actors.

• Soundtrack Album: Lady Raven (Released August 2, 2024)
• Featured Artists: Saleka Shyamalan, Kid Cudi, Russ, Amaarae
• Singles: Release, Save Me, Divine
• Film Score Composer: Herdís Stefánsdóttir
• Record Label: Columbia Records

Release and Distribution

Trap marked a significant distribution shift for M. Night Shyamalan, moving from Universal Pictures, which had released his previous five films, to Warner Bros. Pictures. It was the director's first film with Warner Bros. since Lady in the Water in 2006. Universal had initially scheduled the film for release on April 5, 2024. After Warner Bros. acquired the project in 2023, it was scheduled for August 2, 2024, then briefly postponed to August 9, and later brought it forward to August 2 again. The film had its world premiere at Alice Tully Hall in New York City on July 24, 2024. Notably, the film was not screened for critics prior to its general theatrical release, a strategy sometimes employed for films anticipating mixed reviews.

Marketing analytics firm RelishMix described the social media buzz prior to release as mixed-positive, while Deadline Hollywood reported low general awareness but high interest among specific audiences, comparable to the buzz for the film Longlegs. The film's social media content accumulated 259.2 million impressions across platforms, which was 47 percent above the norm for first-installment genre titles. Following its theatrical run, Trap was released on digital purchase platforms on August 30, 2024. It became available for streaming on Max starting October 25, 2024. Physical media releases on Blu-ray, DVD, and Ultra HD Blu-ray followed on November 5, 2024.

Reception and Box Office Performance

Trap received a mixed critical response upon release. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 56% of 250 critic reviews were positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's consensus noted the film as an arch thriller grounded by Josh Hartnett's performance, likely to appeal to fans of Shyamalan's tongue-in-cheek style. Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 46 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews. Audience scores were also middling. CinemaScore reported an average grade of C+ from polling, while PostTrak reported a 66% overall positive score with an average rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars. Critics were divided, with some praising the concept and Hartnett's performance while others criticized the plot's plausibility.

Benjamin Lee of The Guardian awarded the film 2 out of 5 stars, writing that it was a thriller that incorrectly thinks it's fiendishly smart. Conversely, Jesse Hassenger of The A.V. Club gave it a B+ grade, stating it may cook more purely and entertainingly than anything in Shyamalan's last decade of self-styled pop hits. IndieWire's Ryan Lattanzio gave it a B grade, praising Hartnett's dangerously charismatic performance. The film found notable admirers among other filmmakers. Luca Guadagnino and Drew Hancock both listed it among their favourite films of 2024, with Hancock describing it as 105 minutes of Josh Hartnett having the time of his life. In France, Cahiers du Cinéma ranked Trap ninth on its list of the top 10 films of 2024.

The film grossed $82.7 million worldwide against a production budget of $30 million. In the United States and Canada, it opened in third place with $15.5 million from 3,181 theatres, behind holdovers Deadpool & Wolverine and Twisters. Its domestic total reached $42.8 million, with international markets contributing an additional $39.9 million. The film experienced a steep decline after its opening, earning $6.7 million in its second weekend and $3.4 million in its third, falling out of the top ten in its fourth weekend. Despite the mixed financial performance, the film found a second life on streaming. Data from Showlabs indicated Trap ranked second on Netflix in the United States during the week of March 10-16, 2025.

Cast and Characters

The ensemble cast of Trap is led by Josh Hartnett in a dualistic role that required portraying both a loving father and a ruthless serial killer. Ariel Donoghue plays his perceptive teenage daughter, Riley, whose desire to be part of the concert becomes a key plot mechanism. Saleka Shyamalan, the director's daughter, performs as the pop icon Lady Raven, a role that demanded both acting and extensive musical performance. Veteran actress Hayley Mills appears as FBI profiler Dr. Josephine Grant, the maternal figure orchestrating the manhunt. Alison Pill plays Rachel Abbott, Cooper's wife, whose suspicions about her husband drive the film's final act.

• Josh Hartnett as Cooper Abbott / The Butcher: A Philadelphia firefighter and secret serial killer.
• Ariel Donoghue as Riley Abbott: Cooper's teenage daughter who attends the concert with him.
• Saleka Shyamalan as Lady Raven: The pop star whose concert is the setting for the police trap.
• Hayley Mills as Dr. Josephine Grant: The FBI profiler leading the operation to capture the Butcher.
• Alison Pill as Rachel Abbott: Cooper's wife, who becomes suspicious of his activities.
• Marnie McPhail as Jamie: The venue vendor whose ID Cooper steals.
• Kid Cudi and Russ appear in cameo roles as themselves during the concert sequences.

Questions about Trap (2024 film)

Where was the movie Trap filmed?

Trap was filmed entirely in Ontario, Canada, in late 2023. Principal photography took place from October 16 to December 8, 2023. The interior concert scenes were shot at the TD Coliseum in Hamilton, which served as the fictional Tanaka Arena. The exterior of the concert venue was portrayed by Toronto's Rogers Centre. The production relocated to Toronto after initially planning to shoot in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was granted an interim agreement to film during the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Who is the singer in Trap?

The pop star Lady Raven in the film is played by Saleka Shyamalan, the daughter of director M. Night Shyamalan. Saleka composed fourteen songs for the film, which are designed to match the action onscreen. The official soundtrack album, Lady Raven, was released by Columbia Records and features additional artists Kid Cudi and Russ, who also star in the film. Saleka described the film as a music-centric, grounded Shyamalan American version of a Bollywood movie.

Is Trap based on a true story?

The premise of Trap was inspired in part by a real 1985 sting operation called Operation Flagship. In that operation, disguised law enforcement arrested 101 wanted fugitives at a convention center by inviting them under the pretense of receiving free NFL tickets. Director M. Night Shyamalan adapted this concept, pitching the film as setting The Silence of the Lambs at a Taylor Swift concert in reference to her Eras Tour. He wrote the screenplay in five and a half months, a personal record for him.

What is the ending of Trap explained?

In the finale, Cooper returns home and confronts his wife, Rachel, who confesses she suspected him and tipped off the police. She drugs him with pie laced with sedatives from his tool bag. Hallucinating, Cooper is captured by FBI profiler Dr. Grant. After a tearful goodbye with his daughter, Riley, he is placed in a police van but uses a bicycle spoke he secretly took from Riley's bike to unlock his handcuffs, laughing to himself, suggesting he may not be finished. The final scene shows the vendor Jamie realizing on the news that he helped the Butcher.

How did Trap perform at the box office?

Trap grossed a total of $82.7 million worldwide against a $30 million production budget. In its domestic opening weekend in the United States and Canada, it debuted in third place with $15.5 million. It earned $42.8 million domestically and $39.9 million internationally. While it turned a profit, its box office performance was considered moderate, with significant drops in revenue after the first weekend. It left the top ten in its fourth week of release.

Is Trap connected to other M. Night Shyamalan movies?

Trap is a standalone thriller and is not narratively connected to Shyamalan's previous films. It does feature a familial connection through his daughter Saleka, who stars as Lady Raven and composed the film's songs. A poster for The Watchers, the directorial debut of Shyamalan's other daughter Ishana, appears in the background of a scene. Saleka and Ishana worked on their respective films on their family's property in Pennsylvania at the same time.

Sources and further reading

• Trap (2024 film) (Wikipedia)
• Trap (2024) (rottentomatoes.com)
• Trap (2024) - Reviews, film + cast ... (letterboxd.com)
• Trap (2024) Film Review | The Silver Hedgehog (thesilverhedgehog.com)

Checked by the Yadude Books desk. Last updated 2026-10-20.