Moviegoers went to the Director's Village theater for Beyond Fest 2026 last night expecting to see a screening of "The Sixth Sense," but then M. Night Shyamalan walked onstage and revealed that he was actually going to screen his new film, "Remain," four months early.
The reactions? Great, so far. Most viewers believe this is a return to form for Shyamalan, who teams up with Jake Gyllenhaal and Phoebe Dynevor for a Hitchcock-inspired ghost-story romance that has been testing so well that Warner Bros. moved its release date from October to February 2027.
Clearly, by screening this four months before release, Shyamalan and Warner Bros. are feeling bullish about the potential of "Remain," and the reactions from last night are indeed very positive.
Shyamalan doesn’t really get great critics reviews anymore, at least he hasn’t gotten ultra-positive ink since his “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable” days of yore. “Split” was somewhat of an outlier in 2016. That’s about it. Yet, he remains one of the more interesting, and most distinct major studio filmmakers. His last few titles include “The Visit,”“Split,” “Old,” “Glass,” and “Trap.” Quite honestly, as flawed as some of those films might have been, they still had interesting parts to them — some worked better than others.
With "Remain," Shyamalan is teaming up with Nicholas Sparks, the sultan of sentimental tearjerkers, on a film and a novel. Sparks wrote the book, which dropped last fall, while Shyamalan was simultaneously whipping up the screenplay, which apparently deviates from the page into more Shyamalan-esque territory.
"Remain" follows Tate Donovan (Gyllenhaal), a New York architect trying to rebuild his life after a psychiatric stay triggered by his sister's death. Seeking a fresh start, he heads to Cape Cod to design a summer home for his best friend. But things don't go as planned, especially after he meets Wren, a mysterious young woman who upends his orderly, logic-driven world.
"Remain" hits theaters February 5, 2027.
So far, the consensus seems to be that it's rather mid. Comparisons to David Fincher's "The Social Network" show up in almost every reaction.