Amazon MGM Studios will bring Colleen Hoover’s psychological thriller Verity to the big screen with a wide theatrical release scheduled for May 15, 2026. The film, directed by Michael Showalter, stars Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, Ismael Cruz Cordóva, and Brady Wagner.
The screenplay, penned by Nick Antosca, follows earlier drafts by Hoover, Lauren Levine, Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna, Will Honley, and April Maguire. The official plot centers on Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who is hired as a ghostwriter for the famous author Verity Crawford under mysterious circumstances. The assignment takes a dark turn when Lowen uncovers unsettling autobiographical notes that expose chilling family secrets. As she navigates this dangerous world, she finds herself entangled with Verity’s husband, Jeremy, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
Sources close to the film have revealed that the May release date is strategically chosen to offer counterprogramming against other major male-focused tentpoles launching that month, including The Mandalorian & Grogu and Avengers: Doomsday.
The film’s production team includes producers Antosca, Alex Hedlund, Stacey Sher, Showalter, Jordana Mollick, Hathaway, and Hoover. Executive producers include Johnson, Lauren Levine, and Kerry Orent. The production companies backing Verity are Eat the Cat, Semi-Formal Productions, Shiny Penny, Somewhere Pictures, and Heartbones Entertainment.
Originally self-published by Hoover in 2018, Verity was later acquired by Grand Central Publishing in 2021. The book spent several months on the New York Times Best Sellers list, selling over one million copies in 2023 alone. The film comes on the heels of another Hoover adaptation, It Ends With Us, which became a surprise hit, grossing over $346 million worldwide.
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