The Sixth Sense

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
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]

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.

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 preeminent 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.

  1. ^ a b "The Sixth Sense (1999)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  2. ^ Ganz, Jami (November 30, 2019). "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 icon
  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.