Editing Old (2021) (section)

== Reception ==

=== Box office ===
''Old'' grossed $48.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $41.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $90.2 million.

A week before its release, ''Variety'' and ''Deadline Hollywood'' reported that film analytics had predicted the film would make $12–15 million in its opening weekend, with some noting that its competition, which had the same target audience, could impact box office revenues. Released alongside ''Snake Eyes'' and ''Joe Bell'' on July 23, 2021, in 3,355 theaters, ''Old'' made $6.9 million on its first day, including $1.5 million from Thursday night previews. With audiences that were 52% female and 62% at or over the age of 25, it went on to debut to $16.85 million, making it the sixth film of Shyamalan's to top the box office, though it marked the lowest opening weekend of his career.

Describing the openings of ''Old'' and ''Snake Eyes'' as "weak," Michael Cieply wrote an analysis to explain the audience decline at the box office, streaming sites, and television by using Occam's razor, "Maybe, as a group, we are suffering from 'screen fatigue' — not in the narrow sense of migraines, eye strain, and Computer Vision Syndrome, but in a much bigger way, as a culture. We are tired of Zoom calls. We are tired of event television. We are really tired of looking at ourselves on media screens, large and small." In its second weekend, the film experienced a 60% decline and grossed $6.86 million. After making $4.1 million in its third, ''Old'' dropped out of the box office top five in its fourth weekend with $2.4 million. In its fifth and sixth weekends, the film fell to the bottom of the box office top ten, making $1.15 million and $840,810, respectively.

Worldwide, ''Old'' made $6.5 million in its opening weekend in 23 markets; the top countries were Russia ($2.1 million), the United Kingdom ($1.1 million), Mexico ($800,000), Italy ($600,000), and France ($500,000). In its second, the film had a 35% drop and grossed $7.5 million, including a $1.2 million opening in Spain. After making $4.4 million in its third weekend, it made $2 million in its fifth and held a Korean opening in a mere 453 theaters, a decision by the Korea Theater Association to release local titles instead. In its sixth weekend, ''Old'' was screened in 57 markets and made $1.64 million. It made $277,000 in its ninth weekend and $169,000 in its tenth across 60 foreign markets.

=== Critical respons ===
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 344 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.50/10. The website's consensus reads: "''Old'' has no shortage of interesting ideas -- and writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's uneven execution will intrigue or annoy viewers, with little middle ground between." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 53 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 61% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 37% saying they would definitely recommend it.

''Old'' received criticism for its screenplay and dialogue. Wendy Ide of ''The Observer'' said the film's exposition felt "ponderous and mannered" and asked: "If we can't believe the characters, how are we meant to accept the film's central premise?" WXIX-TV's Terrence "TT" Todd gave a similar response and said that while the premise was interesting, the plot was confusing and could have been explained better as its own television series. From ''Vox'', Alissa Wilkinson wrote that "Shyamalan has not grown any more skilled at writing dialogue over the years," but found that at its best, the film was comparable to Luis Buñuel's ''The Exterminating Angel''. Barry Hertz of ''The Globe and Mail'' said that the director had "stilted dialogue that runs in circles, dumb-dumb plot holes, [and] a bizarre determination to have his performers act as unnaturally as possible." However, some critics enjoyed the gallows humor in the movie. Germain Lussier of ''Gizmodo'' said the movie was made with sadistic glee and surprising emotion. Nick Allen of ''The Playlist'' called it a pitch-black comedy and self-aware horror. Scott Mendelson of ''Forbes'' said it would have benefited from an R rating and described it as a "relentless and mean little chiller".

The film's cinematography and premise received praise. While criticizing the film in general, Jocelyn Novec from the Associated Press said it had "an enticing premise and pretty scenery." In his ''Deadline Hollywood'' review, Pete Hammond wrote, "I don't expect this one to age very well, and some of it is just laughably bad. At the very least, as a summertime theatrical release, the stunning location should give audiences a nice respite from the heat." Critic Richard Roeper described the film's main location as "absolutely breathtaking," and ''The New Yorker''<nowiki/>'s Richard Brody wrote that "with spare methods and sharp images, the director turns a simple premise into potent fantasy."

The film's themes and twist ending received a polarized response. ''Sandcastle'', the novel the film is based on, ends without explaining why the beach ages its guests, and Wilkinson found that ending to be "more satisfying." From ABC News, Peter Travers said he was "shocked" to find "how clumsily [Shyamalan] handles potent themes about sudden death and the collapse of time that should resonate powerfully in the COVID-19 era. Even his argument for family values in the face of global youth worship feels rote." Writing for ''The New York Times'', Glenn Kenny said, "Shyamalan's fluid filmmaking style serves him especially well here [and] the way he switches out his actors as their characters age is seamless," but found that "while Shyamalan is often cited for his tricky endings, it's arguable that he doesn't quite stick the landing with this one."