Amazon MGM turned up the heat at CinemaCon with the first spine-tingling trailer for Verity, the highly anticipated adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling psychological thriller. With Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett leading the cast, the film promises a dark, seductive, and twist-packed ride—and if the CinemaCon footage is any indication, audiences are in for a psychosexual storm.
Described by the studio as a “gothic, psychosexual thriller,” Verity follows a rising writer named Lowen (Johnson), who is hired by grieving husband Jeremy Crawford (Hartnett) to finish a book series left incomplete by his wife, bestselling novelist Verity Crawford (Hathaway), after a devastating accident. But when Lowen discovers a hidden manuscript detailing disturbing confessions and secrets from Verity’s past, she begins to question whether the author’s brilliance was merely fiction—or the mask of something far more sinister.
The exclusive trailer opens in sultry, cinematic style. In a flashback, Verity—dressed in a striking red dress—catches Jeremy’s eye at a bar. He approaches with a sly warning: “You’ve had three drinks in 45 minutes. If you keep going, I’ll feel uncomfortable asking you to leave with me.” She counters smoothly: “I’ll have a water.”
Cut to the present: Verity is bedridden in a luxurious but isolated home. She’s unable to care for herself or their child following a traumatic accident. Lowen arrives to ghostwrite the rest of the series and finds herself increasingly entangled in the Crawford household—emotionally, creatively, and physically. Jeremy begins to show interest in Lowen, but their budding romance quickly takes a disturbing turn.
In one chilling scene, Lowen passionately kisses Jeremy—only to be jolted by a shock of blood on her lip. She pulls back in horror… she’s not kissing Jeremy. It’s Verity. Cue the psychological unraveling.
The trailer ends with a cryptic exchange between Lowen and a detective:
“Are you by chance working on the next Verity novel?”
“It’s going to be the best one yet,” she replies, with a knowing smirk.
Though the cast wasn’t present at CinemaCon, Hathaway, Johnson, Hartnett, and Hoover appeared via video to tease the film’s eerie ambiguities. Each actor dropped clues—or perhaps misdirections.
“My character Verity Crawford is an accomplished author with a tragic past,” Hathaway says.
“Or is she?” Johnson adds.
“My character, Jeremy Crawford, is a devoted husband committed to protecting his wife’s legacy,” says Hartnett.
“Or is he?” Johnson chimes in again.
Hoover’s novel Verity became a publishing phenomenon after its 2018 release, selling over a million copies in 2023 alone and dominating the New York Times best-sellers list. Following the success of It Ends With Us at the box office, Verity is poised to become Hoover’s next cinematic sensation. Amazon MGM’s head of distribution, Kevin Wilson, called it “a sexy, suspenseful thriller that’s the perfect way to start the summer movie season.”
Directed by Michael Showalter (The Big Sick, Spoiler Alert), Verity hits theaters on May 15, 2026—and promises to leave audiences guessing long after the credits roll.