''The Sixth Sense'' is a 1999 American
psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...
film written and directed by
M. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Nelliyattu M. Night Shyamalan ( ; born August 6, 1970) is an American filmmaker. His films often employ supernatural plots and twist endings. The cumulative gross of his films exceeds $3.3 billion globally. Shyamalan has received vario ...
. It stars
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...
as a
child psychologist
Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, ...
whose patient (
Haley Joel Osment
Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an American actor. Beginning his career as a child actor, Osment's role in the comedy-drama film ''Forrest Gump'' (1994) won him a Young Artist Award. His breakthrough came with the psychological thr ...
) claims he can see and talk to the dead.
Released by
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing, and promotion for films produced and ...
through its
Hollywood Pictures
Hollywood Pictures Company was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1989, by Disney CEO Michael Eisner and studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, Hollywood Pictures was ...
label on August 6, 1999, ''The Sixth Sense'' was well received by critics and was nominated for six
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...
, including
Best Picture
The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...
,
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* As ...
and
Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best ...
for Shyamalan,
Best Supporting Actor for Osment, and
Best Supporting Actress for Collette. The film established Shyamalan as a preeminent filmmaker of
thrillers
Thriller is a genre of fiction with numerous, often overlapping, subgenres, including crime, horror, and detective fiction. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving their audiences heightened feelings of suspe ...
and introduced the cinema public to his traits, most notably his affinity for twist endings.
The film was a commercial success, grossing over $672 million worldwide, becoming the
second-highest-grossing film of 1999 and Shyamalan's highest-grossing film to date.
Plot
In Philadelphia, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe is at home with his wife Anna when Vincent Grey, a former patient Malcolm had treated, breaks into their house. Vincent accuses Malcolm of failing him before shooting Malcolm and then himself.
Months later, Malcolm has begun working with Cole Sear, a nine-year-old boy who reminds him of Vincent. He feels he must help Cole in order to rectify his own failure to help Vincent and to reconcile with Anna, who has become cold and distant towards Malcolm. Lynn worries about her son Cole, especially after seeing mysterious signs of physical harm. At a birthday party, when bullies see that Cole is scared of a cupboard, they lock him in it, causing him to scream in terror about someone seemingly inside with him. Once released, he faints and appears to have been physically assaulted, which his mother attributes to the bullies. Following this, Cole confides to Malcolm that he sees dead people.
Malcolm believes Cole is
schizophrenic
Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...
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 was 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 in order to overcome his fears.
One night, Cole finds Kyra Collins, a female child ghost, vomiting. He works 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 gives to her father. The tape reveals that her mother poisoned her food, alerting her father to the cause of her death and saving her younger sister.
Cole is given a lead part in his school play. He is coached by a ghost director and gives his performance with Malcolm looking on. Before leaving, Cole suggests that Malcolm try speaking to Anna while she is asleep so she can hear his thoughts and feelings. Cole tells Lynn his secret. When she does not believe him, he tells her that his deceased grandmother visits him and describes details from his mother's childhood that he could not have known. Shocked, Lynn believes him.
Malcolm returns home to find his wedding video playing and Anna talking in her sleep, asking Malcolm why he left her. She drops his wedding ring, and he notices that it is not on his finger. Recalling what Cole told him about dead people only seeing what they want to see, Malcolm locates his gunshot injury, and he realizes that he did not survive being shot by Vincent. He has been dead the entire time while working with Cole. Malcolm comes to terms with the fact that he is a ghost and lets Anna know that he had to help someone. He tells her that she was never second to anything and that he loves her. Anna's face relaxes indicating she is at peace and can move on, and Malcolm's spirit departs in a flash of light.
Cast
Production
Development
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. Disney dismissed Vogel from his position at the studio, and Vogel left the company shortly thereafter. Disney sold the production rights to
Spyglass Entertainment
Spyglass Media Group, LLC is an American independent film and television production and finance company based in Los Angeles, California.
The company was founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum on August 21, 1998 as Spyglass Entertainment and ...
, while retaining the distribution rights and 12.5% of the film's box office takings.
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."
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.
Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei ( , ; born December 4, 1964) is an American actress.
She gained prominence for her comedic performance in '' My Cousin Vinny'' (1992), which earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received further nominations ...
was considered for the role of Lynn Sear.
Michael Cera
Michael Austin Cera ( ; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor. Over his career he has received nominations for a British Academy Film Award, three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award.
Cera beca ...
auditioned for the role of Cole Sear, and
Liam Aiken
Liam Pádraic Aiken (born January 7, 1990) is an American actor. He has starred in films such as '' Stepmom'' (1998), '' Road to Perdition'' (2002), and ''Good Boy!'' (2003), and played Klaus Baudelaire in ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortun ...
was offered the role but turned it down.
Filming

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"
and "to connote really explosively emotional moments and situations". 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.
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.
Location filming
Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior.
When filmmaking professionals refer to shooting "on location", they are ...
took place mostly in streets and buildings of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, including
St. Augustine's Church on 4th and New Streets in
Old City and on Saint Albans Street in
Southwest Center City.
Release
''The Sixth Sense'' was released on August 6, 1999, by
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing, and promotion for films produced and ...
. Buena Vista handled North American distribution while
Spyglass Entertainment
Spyglass Media Group, LLC is an American independent film and television production and finance company based in Los Angeles, California.
The company was founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum on August 21, 1998 as Spyglass Entertainment and ...
handled international sales.
Buena Vista International
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing, and promotion for films produced and ...
acquired distribution rights in the United Kingdom, Latin America, Australia, and Singapore.
Home media
After a six-month online promotion campaign,
''The Sixth Sense'' was released on
VHS
VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s.
Ma ...
and
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
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
A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game cartridges/discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditi ...
title of all-time. The film generated at least from the US home video market, including from VHS rentals in the US.
In the United Kingdom, it was the third-most-watched film of 2003 on television, with viewers that year.
The film was released on
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
in September 2008, and on
Ultra HD Blu-ray
Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray supports 4K UHD (3840 × 2160 pixel resolution) video at frame rates up to 60 progre ...
in October 2024.
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). It would go on to hold this record for two years until it was overtaken by ''
Rush Hour 2
''Rush Hour 2'' is a 2001 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Brett Ratner and written by Jeff Nathanson. A sequel to '' Rush Hour'' (1998), it is the second installment in the ''Rush Hour'' franchise and stars Jackie Chan and ...
'' in 2001. The film spent five weeks as the
number 1 film at the U.S. box office, becoming only the second film, after ''
Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...
'' (1997), to have grossed more than $20 million each for five weekends.
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
Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
''. During
Labor Day
Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...
, it made $6.3 million, making it the biggest September Monday gross, holding that record until it was beaten by ''
It'' in 2017. It grossed $293,506,292 in the United States and Canada, surpassing ''
The Empire Strikes Back
''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...
'' as the tenth highest grossing film of all time in that market at the time.
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon.
History
Brandon Gray ...
estimates that the film sold over 57.5 million tickets in the US and Canada.
In Europe, the film sold 37,124,510 tickets at the box office. In the United Kingdom, it was given at first a limited release on nine screens, and entered at number 8 at the UK box office before climbing up to
number one the following week with 430 theatres playing the film. It had a record opening in the Netherlands. It had a worldwide gross of $672,806,292, ranking it ninth on the list of worldwide box-office money earners at the time.
[
]
Critical response
''The Sixth Sense'' was well received, with Osment's performance receiving high praise in particular. On the review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website, Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on reviews from 166 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." Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
rated it 64 out of 100 based on 35 reviews, meaning "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
awarded the film a 3 out of 4-star rating and was particularly impressed by Osment’s performance, writing: "Haley Joel Osment, his young co-star, is a very good actor in a film where his character possibly has more lines than anyone else. He’s in most of the scenes, and he has to act in them–this isn’t a role for a cute kid who can stand there and look solemn in reaction shots. There are fairly involved dialogue passages between Willis and Osment that require good timing, reactions and the ability to listen. Osment is more than equal to them. And although the tendency is to notice how good he is, not every adult actor can play heavy dramatic scenes with a kid and not seem to condescend (or, even worse, to be subtly coaching and leading him). Willis can. Those scenes give the movie its weight and make it as convincing as, under the circumstances, it can possibly be."
In his review for the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'', John Anderson wrote that the script was "clever" and called Osment's performance the best of the year from a child actor. Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter (born March 25, 1946, in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American novelist, essayist, and film critic.
Life and career
Hunter was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. His father was Charles Francis Hunte ...
of ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' said the film was a "maximum creep-out."
By vote of the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. Whi ...
, ''The Sixth Sense'' was awarded the Nebula Award for Best Script
The Nebula Award for Best Script was given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy scripts for movies or television episodes. Awards are also given out for published literary works i ...
during 1999.
Accolades
''The Sixth Sense'' has received numerous awards and nominations, with six Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
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
Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an American actor. Beginning his career as a child actor, Osment's role in the comedy-drama film ''Forrest Gump'' (1994) won him a Young Artist Award. His breakthrough came with the psychological thr ...
, whose nominations include an Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
, a Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...
and a Critics' Choice Movie Award
The Critics' Choice Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Written ballots are ...
. Overall, ''The Sixth Sense'' was nominated for six Academy Awards and four British Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...
, but won none. The film received three nominations from the People's Choice Awards
The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the fans and general public. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls un ...
and won all of them, with lead actor Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...
being honored for his role. The Satellite Awards
The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...
nominated the film in four categories, with awards being received for writing (M. Night Shyamalan) and editing (Andrew Mondshein
Andrew Steven Mondshein (born February 28, 1957) is an American film editor and director with more than 25 motion picture credits. He was widely recognized for his editing of the film ''The Sixth Sense'' (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999); he was nomin ...
). Supporting actress Toni Collette
Toni Collette (born Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television, blockbusters and independent films, her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, wit ...
was nominated for both an Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
and a Satellite Award
The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...
for her role in the film. James Newton Howard
James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, orchestrator and music producer. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards.
His film scores ...
was honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...
for his composition of the music for the film.
In 2013, the Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media:
* The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...
ranked the screenplay
A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...
#50 on its list of 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written.
The February 2020 issue of ''New York Magazine
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City.
Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...
'' lists ''The Sixth Sense'' as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars."
American Film Institute lists
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – No. 60
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
** "I see dead people." – No. 44
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – No. 89
See also
* List of ghost films
Ghost movies and shows can fall into a wide range of genres, including romance, comedy, horror, juvenile interest, and drama.
History
With the advent of motion pictures and television, screen depictions of ghosts became common and spanned a vari ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sixth Sense, The
1999 films
1999 psychological thriller films
1990s American films
1990s English-language films
1990s ghost films
American ghost films
American nonlinear narrative films
American psychological thriller films
English-language thriller films
Films about death
Films about filicide
Films about mother–son relationships
Films about poisonings
Films about psychiatry
Films about psychic powers
Films about the afterlife
Films directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Films produced by Barry Mendel
Films produced by Frank Marshall
Films produced by Kathleen Kennedy
Films scored by James Newton Howard
Films set in 1998
Films set in Philadelphia
Films shot in Philadelphia
Films with screenplays by M. Night Shyamalan
Hollywood Pictures films
The Kennedy/Marshall Company films
Murder–suicide in films
Nebula Award for Best Script–winning works
Satellite Award–winning films
Saturn Award–winning films
Sony Pictures Classics films
Spyglass Entertainment films
Teen Choice Award winning films