Colleen Hoover’s Verity adaptation sets its theatrical release date

Colleen Hoover is a name you’ll be familiar with, having graced hundreds of airport gates, second-hand bookstores, and news headlines over the last few years. In my completely amateur opinion, Verity is the best of her books - although this review comes from the fact that I finished in six tube journeys, whereas with her other novels, I made the executive decision to quit reading after the first twenty pages.

Based very loosely off Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, Verity charts the story of Lowen Ashleigh, a young struggling writer who is hired under mysterious circumstances to ghostwrite for successful, glamorous author Verity Crawford. However, her assignment takes a dark turn after discovering Crawford’s chilling, twisted autobiographical notes. As Lowen gets embedded into Verity’s life and her mind, the lines between fact and fiction begin to blur.

It was announced in late 2024 that Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, and Anne Hathaway had been cast to star in the psychological thriller as Lowen Ashleigh, Jeremy Crawford (Verity’s husband), and Verity Crawford.

Amazon MGM Studios is adapting the film and its release date has been confirmed as May 15th 2026. Variety reported that this release date was selected to provide counterprogramming for male-skewed titles also released in May, including The Mandalorian & Grogu, and Avengers: Doomsday.

Nick Antosca is writing the script, and Michael Showalter (writer and director of The Big Sick and The Eyes of Tammy Faye) is directing. Hathaway and Johnson are joined by Ismael Cruz Cordova and Brady Wagner. Antosca, Alex Hedlund, Stacey Sher, Showalter, Jordana Mollick, Hathaway, and Hoover are all serving as producers, while Johnson, Lauren Levine, and Kerry Orent are executive producing.

Verity was originally self-published by Hoover in 2018, and it will be the second film released based on her novels. Her 2016 novel It Ends With Us was premiered in 2024, starring Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively, and earned more than $346 million. Hopefully, Verity yields a similar critical reception but slightly less cast drama…

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