Shyamalan sprang a surprise on Los Angeles moviegoers Tuesday night, premiering his new film “Remain” at Beyond Fest four months before its theatrical release and drawing immediate praise for star Jake Gyllenhaal.
The supernatural romance played ahead of a scheduled retrospective screening of Shyamalan’s 1998 breakout “The Sixth Sense.” Warner Bros. opens “Remain” in theaters Feb. 5, 2027, after initially eyeing an October date.
Gyllenhaal plays Tate, a reclusive architect recovering from depression who relocates to a coastal town and meets a mysterious young woman, played by Phoebe Dynevor. Julie Hagerty also stars. Shyamalan developed the story with Nicholas Sparks, author of “The Notebook” and “Dear John.” Sparks published a novel version last October, while Shyamalan wrote a screenplay that veers from the book toward more familiar Shyamalan territory.
#Remain is Shyamalan at his most earnest and sincere. Such a heartfelt and romantic throwback to his early work bolstered by another sensation James Newton Howard score. Arguably his most achingly vulnerable since Signs. A beautiful film about openness, intimacy, self love, and… pic.twitter.com/5W0m346B8E
— Griffin Schiller (@griffschiller) September 30, 2026
REMAIN is going to crush. A great reminder that nobody does “fun, movie theater horror” like M. Night. Has the humor of Signs with tight emotional ghosty story of Sixth Sense. Lot of great scares. See it big and loud when it comes out.
— Luke Barnett (@LukeBarnett) September 30, 2026
Attendees flooded social media within hours. Griffin Schiller, host of Film Speak, called the film Shyamalan at his “most earnest and sincere.” Others described a movie unlike anything the director has made, and several singled out James Newton Howard’s score and the VistaVision photography. Critic Carlos Aguilar found a “consistently funny ghost story,” though he acknowledged the film has little subtlety and pairs two sensibilities that seldom share a marquee.
The surprise screening reflects the confidence around the project. Shyamalan told advertisers at Warner Bros. Discovery’s New York upfront earlier this year that “Remain” has tested better with audiences than any film of his career. The first trailer also drew a warm reception online.
Festival crowds lean friendly, and formal reviews will not arrive until closer to release. Still, the response gives Shyamalan, now 17 films into his career, a strong early signal for a project that blends romance, humor and scares in a way he has not attempted before.
