The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film[2] written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient (Haley Joel Osment) claims he can see and talk to the dead.

For other uses, see Sixth sense (disambiguation).
"Vincent Grey" redirects here. For people with similar names, see Vincent Gray.

The Sixth Sense
Theatrical release poster
Directed byM. Night Shyamalan
Written byM. Night Shyamalan
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyTak Fujimoto
Edited byAndrew Mondshein
Music byJames Newton Howard
Production
companies
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution (United States/Canada)
Spyglass Entertainment (International)
Release dates
  • August 2, 1999 (1999-08-02) (Prince Music Theater)
  • August 6, 1999 (1999-08-06) (United States)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million[1]
Box office$672.8 million[1]

Released by Buena Vista Pictures (through its Hollywood Pictures label) on August 6, 1999, The Sixth Sense received critical acclaim, with praise for the cast performances (particularly those of Willis, Osment, and Toni Collette), atmosphere, direction and surprise ending. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Shyamalan, Best Supporting Actor for Osment, and Best Supporting Actress for Collette.[3] The film established Shyamalan as a predominant thriller screenwriter/director and introduced the cinema public to his traits, most notably his affinity for twist endings.[4]

It was the second-highest-grossing film of 1999, behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, making roughly $293 million in the US and $379 million in other markets.

Plot

While Philadelphia-based child psychologist Malcolm Crowe is home with his wife, Anna, Vincent Grey, a former patient Malcolm had treated, breaks into their house. He accuses Malcolm of failing him before shooting Malcolm and then himself.

Months later, Malcolm begins working with Cole Sear, a 9-year-old boy who reminds him of Vincent. He feels he must help Cole to rectify his failure to help Vincent and reconcile with Anna, who has become distant and cold and is suffering from depression. Cole's mother Lynn worries about him, especially after seeing mysterious signs of physical harm. At a birthday party, when bullies see that Cole is terribly scared of a cupboard, they lock him in there, causing him to scream in terror about someone seemingly inside with him. Following this, Cole finally confides to Malcolm that he sees dead people who walk around like the living do, unaware that they are dead.

Malcolm thinks Cole is schizophrenic and considers dropping his case. However, after listening to an audiotape from a session with Vincent, he hears a man begging for help in Spanish when Vincent is supposed to be alone in the room, suggesting that Vincent had the same ability. He realizes that Cole is telling the truth and suggests that he try to communicate with the ghosts and help them finish their business.

One night, Cole discovers Kyra Collins, a female child ghost, vomiting. He finds out who she is and goes with Malcolm to the funeral reception at her home. In her room, Kyra gives Cole a videotape that he hands to her father. The tape reveals Kyra's mother poisoning her food, alerting her father to the reality of her death and saving her younger sister from the same fate.

Now that Cole is doing better socially and personally, it marks the end of his sessions with Malcolm. Before parting ways, he suggests that Malcolm try speaking to Anna while she is asleep to ensure he can express his feelings. While stuck in traffic, Cole tells Lynn his secret. When she does not believe him, he tells her his late grandmother visits him and describes details from his mother's childhood that he could not have known. Shocked, Lynn finally accepts that her son has a special ability.

Malcolm returns home to find Anna talking in her sleep, asking Malcolm why he left her, much to his confusion. When she drops his wedding ring, he notices that he is not wearing it like he thought he was. Recalling what Cole told him about dead people only seeing what they want to see and after locating his gunshot injury, Malcolm finally realizes that he did not survive being shot by Vincent and has been dead the entire time while working with Cole. Malcolm quickly comes to terms with the fact that he is a ghost, and after he tells Anna that he loves her and things will get better, his business with both her and Cole is complete and he happily departs.

Cast

Production
St. Augustine's Church in Philadelphia was used as a filming location

David Vogel, then-president of production of Walt Disney Studios, read Shyamalan's spec script and loved it. Without obtaining corporate approval, Vogel bought the rights, despite the price of $3 million and the stipulation that Shyamalan could direct the film.[5] Disney dismissed Vogel from his position at the studio, and Vogel left the company shortly thereafter.[6] Disney sold the production rights to Spyglass Entertainment, while retaining the distribution rights and 12.5% of the film's box office takings.[7]

During the casting process for the role of Cole Sear, Shyamalan had been apprehensive about Osment's video audition, saying later he was "this really sweet cherub, kind of beautiful, blond boy". Shyamalan saw the role as darker and more brooding but felt that Osment "nailed it with the vulnerability and the need ... He was able to convey a need as a human being in a way that was amazing to see."[8]

Willis was cast in the role of Malcolm Crowe as part of a deal to compensate the studio for Willis's role in the implosion of Broadway Brawler the year before.[9][10]

The color red is absent from most of the film, but it is used prominently in a few isolated shots for "anything in the real world that has been tainted by the other world"[11] and "to connote really explosively emotional moments and situations".[12] Examples include the door of the church where Cole seeks sanctuary; the balloon, carpet, and Cole's sweater at the birthday party; the tent in which he first encounters Kyra; the volume numbers on Crowe's tape recorder; the doorknob on the locked basement door where Malcolm's office is located; the shirt that Anna wears at the restaurant; Kyra's mother's dress at the wake; and the shawl wrapped around the sleeping Anna.[11]

All the clothes Malcolm wears are items he wore or touched the evening before his death, including his overcoat, his blue rowing sweatshirt and the different layers of his suit. Though the filmmakers were careful about clues of Malcolm's true state, the camera zooms slowly towards his face when Cole says, "I see dead people." The filmmakers initially feared this would be too much of a giveaway, but left it in.[13]

Location filming took place mostly in streets and buildings of Philadelphia, notable at St. Augustine's Church on 4th and New Streets in Old City and on Saint Albans Street in Southwest Center City.[14]

Marisa Tomei was considered for the role of Lynn Sear.[15]

Michael Cera auditioned for the role of Cole Sear,[16] and Liam Aiken was offered the role but turned it down.[17]

Release

The Sixth Sense was released on August 6, 1999, by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Buena Vista handled North American distribution while Spyglass Entertainment handled international sales. Buena Vista International acquired distribution rights in the United Kingdom, Latin America, Australia, and Singapore.[18]

Home media

After a six-month online promotion campaign,[19] The Sixth Sense was released on VHS and DVD by Hollywood Pictures Home Video on March 28, 2000. It went on to become the top-selling DVD of 2000, with more than 2.5 million units shipped, and the all-time second best-selling DVD title up until then, as well as the top video rental title of all-time.[20] The film generated at least $173,320,000 (equivalent to $295,000,000 in 2022) from the US home video market,[21] including $125,850,000 (equivalent to $214,000,000 in 2022) from VHS rentals in the US.[22]

In the United Kingdom, it was the third-most-watched film of 2003 on television, with 9 million viewers that year.[23]

Reception

Box office

The Sixth Sense had a production budget of approximately $40 million (plus $25 million for prints and advertising). During its opening weekend, the film grossed $26.6 million, making it the largest August opening weekend, surpassing The Fugitive (1993).[24] It would go on to hold this record for two years until it was over taken by Rush Hour 2 in 2001.[25] The film spent five weeks as the number 1 film at the U.S. box office, becoming only the second film, after Titanic (1997), to have grossed more than $20 million each for five weekends.[1][26] With a total gross of $29.2 million, The Sixth Sense set the record for having the largest Labor Day weekend gross until 2007 when it was surpassed by Halloween.[27] During Labor Day, it made $6.3 million, making it the biggest September Monday gross, holding that record until it was beaten by It in 2017.[28] It earned $293,506,292 in the United States and Canada and a worldwide gross of $672,806,292, ranking it 74th on the list of worldwide box-office money earners as of May 2022 when adjusting for inflation.[29] Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 57.5 million tickets in the US.[30]

In Europe, the film sold 37,124,510 tickets at the box office.[31] In the United Kingdom, it was given at first a limited release on nine screens, and entered at No. 8 before climbing up to No. 1 the next week with 430 theatres playing the film.[32][33] It had a record opening in the Netherlands.[34]

Critical response
Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette's performances garnered high critical acclaim and were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor & Best Supporting Actress, respectively.

The Sixth Sense received widespread critical acclaim, with Osment's performance receiving high praise in particular.[35] On the review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on reviews from 162 critics, with an average rating of 7.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense is a twisty ghost story with all the style of a classical Hollywood picture, but all the chills of a modern horror flick."[36] Metacritic rated it 64 out of 100 based on 35 reviews, meaning "generally favorable reviews".[37] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[38]

By vote of the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Sixth Sense was awarded the Nebula Award for Best Script during 1999.[39] The film was No. 71 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments, for the scene where Cole encounters a female ghost in his tent. It was named the 89th best American film of all time in a 2007 poll by the American Film Institute.

The line "I see dead people" from the film became a popular catchphrase after its release, scoring No. 44 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.

The Sixth Sense also scored 60th place on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills, honoring America's most "heart pounding films".

Accolades
Further information: List of accolades received by The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense has received numerous awards and nominations, with Academy Award nomination categories ranging from those honoring the film itself (Best Picture), to its writing, editing, and direction (Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay), to its cast's performance (Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress). Especially lauded was the supporting role of actor Haley Joel Osment, whose nominations include an Academy Award,[40] a Golden Globe Award[41] and a Critics' Choice Movie Award.[42] Overall, The Sixth Sense was nominated for six Academy Awards and four British Academy Film Awards, but won none.[40][43] The film received three nominations from the People's Choice Awards and won all of them, with lead actor Bruce Willis being honored for his role.[44] The Satellite Awards nominated the film in four categories, with awards being received for writing (M. Night Shyamalan) and editing (Andrew Mondshein).[45] Supporting actress Toni Collette was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Satellite Award for her role in the film.[40][45] James Newton Howard was honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for his composition of the music for the film.[46]

In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked the screenplay #50 on its list of 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written.[47]

Year-end lists

See also

References
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  2. Ganz, Jami. "M. Night Shyamalan says 'The Sixth Sense' isn't a horror film". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  3. Rinaldi, Ray Mark (March 27, 2000). "Crystal has a sixth sense about keeping overhyped, drawn-out Oscar broadcast lively". Off the Post-Dispatch. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 27. Archived from the original on May 19, 2023. Retrieved May 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  4. Howard, Michael (August 8, 2014). "Why The Sixth Sense Ending Has Never Been Matched". Esquire. Archived from the original on February 20, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  5. Weiner, Allison Hope (June 2, 2008). "Shyamalan's Hollywood Horror Story, With Twist". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  6. Bart, Peter (July 2, 2012). "Moguls make switch after power turns off: Is there life after Hollywood?". Variety. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  7. Stewart, James B. (2005). DisneyWar: The Battle for the Magic Kingdom. New York: Simon & Schuster
  8. ""I Wasn't Bluffing": M. Night Shyamalan Recalls 'Sixth Sense' Pitch and Frenzy That Followed". The Hollywood Reporter. August 2, 2019. Archived from the original on August 4, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  9. Brew, Simon (February 24, 2020). "The three films that Bruce Willis was cornered into having to make". Film Stories. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  10. Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 5, 2010). "Bruce Willis In Drama Deal For Pal Joe Roth". Deadline. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  11. Screenwriter/director M. Night Shyamalan, "Rules and Clues" bonus featurette on the DVD.
  12. Producer Barry Mendel, "Rules and Clues" bonus featurette on the DVD.
  13. Producer Frank Marshall, "Rules and Clues" bonus featurette on the DVD.
  14. "The Sixth Sense (1999) Filming Locations". The Movie District. Archived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
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  16. Jones, Chris (June 18, 2019). "Michael Cera: What I've Learned". Esquire. Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  17. Hill, Logan (December 2, 2004). "Unfortunate Son". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on June 27, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  18. Cox, Dan (October 1, 1998). "Spyglass has int'l 'Sense'".
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  24. Wolk, Josh (August 9, 1999). "The Sixth Sense sets an August record". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  25. Linder, Brian (August 7, 2001). "Weekend Box Office: Rush Hour Jams Theaters". IGN. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  26. "Variety's Summer Cup: Milestones". Daily Variety. September 8, 1999. p. A1.
  27. "'Halloween' scares up a Labor Day box office record". September 3, 2007.
  28. D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 12, 2017). "'It' Posts Record Monday For September With $8.8M". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  29. "Top Lifetime Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
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  33. "United Kingdom Box Office Returns for the weekend starting 12 November 1999". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2008.
  34. Groves, Don (December 3, 2001). "O'seas B.O. rises to wizard's wand". Variety. p. 15.
  35. King, Susan (August 13, 1999). "Actor Has a Sense for Spooky Role". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 18, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
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  46. Don Heckman (April 27, 2000). "Howard, Donen Honored by ASCAP". Los Angeles Times.
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