M. Night Shyamalan's (Unbreakable, Signs, Split) new movie arrives in theaters next Valentine's Day, and the first reactions to Remain are starting to come in following the movie's impromptu premiere at the 2026 Beyond Fest.
With the exception of The Sixth Sense and (maybe) Unbreakable, Shyamalan's movies are usually highly divisive, but these reactions have been overwhelmingly positive so far.
The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Tate Gordon, a reclusive architect who moves to a small coastal town to complete his latest project, where he encounters an alluring young woman played by Phoebe Dynevor.
The recent trailer set up what appears to be a romantic drama focusing on two strangers falling in love, but this being a Shyamalan flick, you know something out of the ordinary is right around the corner!
It looks like Dynevor's character is actually a ghost, but there's probably a slightly more elaborate (convoluted?) explanation for what's going on.
“My new movie began with a conversation, an unexpected one, with a celebrated author, Nicholas Sparks,” the filmmaker said in a recent interview with THR. “He sold more than 130 million books worldwide and wrote one of the most iconic love stories ever, The Notebook. Romance is his territory. Mine’s a little different. I’m drawn to suspense, to twists and tension and stories that leave you just a little unsettled long after they are over. That feels like home to me.”
“We started from nothing, just a couple of questions: What scares you? What moves you? What stays with you? We challenged each other. We traded ideas and slowly wove two very different perspectives into a single, thrilling, supernatural love story. In the end, we get to tell it our own way. Mine through film, Nicholas through his novel.”
Check out the reactions below.
From Warner Bros. Pictures, Remain, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is an unprecedented collaboration between two of the world’s most creative minds: best-selling author Nicholas Sparks, and visionary filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.
"When reclusive architect Tate Gordon moves to a small coastal town to complete his latest project, he encounters an alluring young woman who pulls him out of his shell, and into the center of a deadly mystery that hangs over the town."
Gyllenhaal stars alongside Phoebe Dynevor, Ashley Walters, Julie Hagerty and Jay O. Sanders. Shyamalan directs from his own screenplay, story by Shyamalan and Sparks. The film is produced by Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and Theresa Park, with Sparks executive producing.
Joining Shyamalan behind the camera are director of photography Adolpho Veloso, production designer Sam Lisenco, editor Noëmi Preiswerk, costume designer Caroline Duncan, casting director Douglas Aibel, music supervisor Gabe Hilfer and composer James Newton Howard.