Verity (2026)
About
A ghostwriter moves into a bestselling author's lakeside home and finds a manuscript that should never have been written, in Michael Showalter's adaptation of Colleen Hoover's thriller.
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling New York novelist, still grieving her mother, when a publisher offers her an unusual job: finish the hit series of Verity Crawford, an author famous for writing from inside the heads of her villains. Verity has been left unable to move or speak after a car crash, something the publisher is keeping from her fans. Lowen moves into the family's Vermont house to work through Verity's notes, where she lives alongside Verity's husband Jeremy and their young son Crew, the family still reeling from the drowning of Crew's twin sister. Among the notes she finds an unfinished autobiography in which Verity confesses to things far darker than anything in her novels, and Lowen begins to suspect that Verity is far more aware of what is going on around her than anyone believes.
Details
Director: Michael Showalter
Writer/Screenplay: Nick Antosca (screenplay), based on the 2018 novel by Colleen Hoover
Producer: Nick Antosca, Alex Hedlund, Stacey Sher, Michael Showalter, Jordana Mollick, Anne Hathaway, Colleen Hoover
Running time: 117 minutes
Certificate: 15 (UK)
Budget: $40 million
Box office: $149 million worldwide (as of October 23, 2026)
Genre: Psychological thriller, Erotic thriller
Released: October 2, 2026 (UK and US)
Music Composer: Volker Bertelmann
Cast
- Anne Hathaway as Verity Crawford
- Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh
- Josh Hartnett as Jeremy Crawford
- Ismael Cruz Córdova
- Brady Wagner
Related
Trivia
- The script passed through several hands. April Maguire and Will Honley wrote the first version, Hilary Seitz and Angela LaManna reworked it, and producer Nick Antosca finished it himself.
- Showalter and Hathaway both signed on in November 2024, with Hartnett and Johnson joining the following month.
- A different twist ending was shot first, but test audiences didn't take to it, so it was cut.
- The film was originally due out on May 15, 2026, before moving to October.
- It opened at number one in the US and Canada with $32 million, then slipped to second in its second weekend behind Other Mommy (2026).
Critical Reception
Critics were largely unconvinced. On Rotten Tomatoes 31% of 186 reviews are positive, and Metacritic gives it 44 out of 100, which it classes as "mixed or average". Several reviewers enjoyed it as a knowingly over-the-top guilty pleasure, singling out Hathaway's turn as the manipulative Verity, while others felt the pile-up of late twists deflated the tension rather than building it. Opening audiences gave it a C+ CinemaScore, though general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes have been kinder, with a 71% Popcornmeter.
Reviews
- RogerEbert.com (Matt Zoller Seitz): 3 out of 4 stars, calling it wickedly playful.
- Time Out (Larushka Ivan-Zadeh): 3 out of 5 stars.
- The Boston Globe (Odie Henderson): two and a half stars, praising Hathaway's performance.
Links
Production
Producers Nick Antosca and Alex Hedlund had been developing Colleen Hoover's novel through Antosca's company Eat the Cat since before November 2020, with the film set up at what is now Amazon MGM Studios. Michael Showalter came on board to direct in November 2024, when Anne Hathaway also agreed to play Verity. Josh Hartnett and Dakota Johnson were cast in December 2024, and Ismael Cruz Córdova and Brady Wagner joined in February 2025.
Filming started in February 2025, with Hathaway and Hartnett shooting first on location in New York City and Johnson joining the following month. Production wrapped in April 2025. Volker Bertelmann wrote the score, and the soundtrack album came out on the same day as the film.
Release
Verity had its world premiere at the Curzon Mayfair cinema in London on September 24, 2026. Amazon MGM Studios released it in the US and Canada on October 2, 2026, with Sony Pictures Releasing International handling the rest of the world on the same date. It is due to screen in the Gala section of the Tokyo International Film Festival on October 29, 2026.
Box Office
Verity took $15 million on its first day in the US and Canada, including $4.5 million from Thursday previews, and opened at number one with $32 million. Its second weekend fell 63% to $12 million. As of October 23, 2026 it had made $69 million domestically and $79 million elsewhere, $149 million worldwide, against a production budget of $40 million.
