Anne Hathaway's Verity Will Be The Sleeper Box Office Hit Of The Fall Movie Season

Amazon MGM Studios

The sleeper hit of the fall movie season may well be upon us. "Verity" is one of the best books becoming a movie in 2026, based on the Colleen Hoover best-seller of the same name. Given that Hoover's works have inspired big hits in recent years, most notably "It Ends With Us," that alone would be one reason to believe box office success is around the corner. But a stacked cast, an intriguing premise, and timing are all shaping up to make this movie a true, blue, big ol' hit for Amazon MGM Studios.

With a cast led by Anne Hathaway ("Interstellar") and Dakota Johnson ("The Lost Daughter"), director Michael Showalter's "Verity" is currently looking at an opening in the $20 to $29 million range when it arrives next weekend, per Box Office Theory. It will be directly competing with "Digger," a Tom Cruise-fronted comedy that's been met with mixed critical reactions and has a similar opening in sight. For the moment, then, this Hoover adaptation seems to have the edge, as movies aimed at women audiences have generally over-performed in recent years.

"Verity" centers on a struggling writer hired to complete an injured best-selling author's book series. While living at the author's home, she discovers a horrifying manuscript and must decide whether to expose the truth. Josh Hartnett ("Oppenheimer"), Asel Swango ("Power Book II: Ghost"), and Daniel Echevarria ("Daredevil: Born Again") co-star, with the film also marking a reunion for Showalter and Hathaway after their collaboration on the unconventional romantic film drama "The Idea of You."

Amazon is very seriously committing to theatrical these days. This isn't a token release. Just look at what happened with "Project Hail Mary." This to say, this steamy thriller is going to meaningfully compete for box office dollars for weeks beyond opening weekend.

Amazon MGM Studios

Everything appears to be lining up in favor of "Verity." It's a movie nobody seems to be looking at as a potential massive success, but it's got so many data points that suggest it's going to hit it out of the park. For one, it carries an extremely reasonable $40 million budget. The domestic number alone is very favorable for that price tag without even taking into account overseas ticket sales.

Then there's Anne Hathaway, who is having a hell of a year. Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" has overtaken "Jurassic World" as Universal's biggest movie ever, having earned $1.72 billion to date. Hathaway was also in "The Devil Wears Prada 2," which made a truly eye-popping $693 million earlier in 2026. Yes, "The End of Oak Street" was a bit of a disappointment, but that can't be placed on her shoulders.

Likewise, Dakota Johnson was associated with "Madame Web," one of the biggest box office flops of 2024, and hasn't historically been a huge draw on her own. That said, the "Fifty Shades" trilogy, which made more than $1.3 billion, and "Materialists" ($108 million worldwide), another sleeper hit, are the types of movies she's thrived within. "Verity" fits comfortably alongside those films, which bodes well.

Then there's the author behind it all. "Reminders of Him" proved Colleen Hoover is a proper box office juggernaut, with both "It Ends With Us" ($351 million worldwide) and "Regretting You" ($90 million worldwide) having already crushed it. Hoover's latest adaptation has a real sexy thriller element to it, too, which could help it leg out through the Halloween season. The only real question is: Just how high can this movie fly when all's said and done?

"Verity" hits theaters on October 2, 2026.