View the Gallery / 4 Photos »

Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg has signed on to star in director M. Knight Shyamalan latest thriller “The Happening.” Wahlberg is also set to star along side Matt Damon in Darren Aronofsky’s film “The Fighter.” “The Happening” is already slated for a June 13, 2008 release date.

“Friday the 13th has very distinctive, global connotations, which make it the ideal launching pad for this frightening thriller,” 20th domestic distribution president Bruce Snyder said in a statement.

Wahlberg will play a man who takes his family on the run when a cataclysmic natural crisis threatens to end the world.

“Mark has a unique blend of charisma, humanity, authenticity and skillfulness as an actor,” Shyamalan said, “all of which coalesced at this moment in his career, making him the perfect person to take on the role of Eliot Moore, the science teacher at the center of this event.”

Let’s just hope the film doesn’t suck as much as “Lady in the Water” did.

(WENN)