Director Richard Kelly is right in front of M. Night Shyamalan in the line of directors who have to redeem themselves. Sure, Shyamalan has had twice as many duds as Kelly, but he’s also had more successes. Kelly, on the other hand, has really only had Donnie Darko, which he tarnished with his infamous “director’s cut.” Pile the ill-received Southland Tales on top and you’ve got a director whose got some ‘splainin to do.

I haven’t given up all hope on Kelly yet, however. I’m hoping his next picture, The Box, will offer some salvation. True, the concept of the movie is based on a rather clichéd sci-fi concept – a mysterious box that grants wishes at the cost of human life – but the cliché hasn’t come to the screen, at least not that I’m aware of.

Kelly has wrapped filming on The Box, which stars Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, and Frank Langella. After a long absence from his own MySpace blog, the director announced the picture is done with filming and will start work on visual effects and finding a composer soon. There’s no release date for the film yet, but Kelly promises to let people know as soon as Warner Brothers determines one.

Here’s hoping Kelly’s third film makes up for what he’s done with his previous two.