M. Night Shyamalan's Remain surprise-premiered — early reactions call it his Vertigo

M. Night Shyamalan pulled a very Shyamalan move on Tuesday. At the 2026 Beyond Fest, a crowd had gathered for a retrospective screening of his 1998 classic The Sixth Sense — and instead he walked out and introduced his next feature. Remain, a supernatural romance not due in theaters until Feb. 5, 2027, had just been surprise-premiered months early.

The Warner Bros. thriller stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Tate, an architect recovering from depression who relocates to Cape Cod and meets a mysterious woman, alongside Phoebe Dynevor and Julie Hagerty. Shyamalan co-created it with bestselling author Nicholas Sparks, and the story began life as a 2025 hit novel the pair wrote together.

Beyond Fest had billed the night as a Shyamalan Q&A ahead of The Sixth Sense, so dropping Remain with zero warning was the festival's own third-act twist. The warm response to the first teaser suggested that optimism was well placed.

The stealth screening matches Shyamalan's growing confidence in the movie. Its release was originally set for Oct. 23, 2026 before being moved closer to Valentine's Day, and earlier this year the director told Warner Bros. Discovery's upfront presentation that Remain is "my highest-testing movie of my career."

First word from the room is just as bullish. Griffin Schiller called it "Shyamalan at his most earnest and sincere," a "heartfelt and romantic throwback" boosted by another James Newton Howard score and "arguably his most achingly vulnerable since Signs." Will Landman wrote that Remain finds "M Night at his most calibrated," mixing romance, comedy and horror in "pitch perfect" form. Amir Malekpour went one step further:

M. Night Shyamalan's new film Remain is his Vertigo. Total return to form.

It's Shyamalan's second straight feature for Warner Bros. after 2024's Trap, which made $84 million off a $30 million budget and became a full-blown meme machine. If the secret Beyond Fest crowd is any guide, Remain looks ready to keep the streak alive.