The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense (1999) is a film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that tells the fictional story of a troubled, isolated boy (played by Haley Joel Osment) and a child psychologist (played by Bruce Willis) who tries to help him. more...

The entire film takes place in center city Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a prominent child psychologist, but is unable to treat Vincent Gray, a patient who suffers from hallucinations and delusions. One night, Malcolm is confronted by an upset Vincent in his bedroom. Unwilling to live with his condition, he blames Malcolm for his inability to help him and shoots him and seconds later pulls the trigger on himself.

Months later, Malcolm returns to work with another frightened boy, 9-year old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), with a similar condition as Vincent. Malcolm becomes dedicated to this patient, after his mental breakdown from failing to help Vincent. Meanwhile, he begins to neglect his wife, with whom his relationship is already falling apart. Malcolm earns Cole's trust and Cole ultimately confides in him that he sees dead people in his everyday life. Cole, with the help of his psychologist, goes on a journey to find the purpose of his gift.

The movie was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Haley Joel Osment), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Toni Collette, who played Osment's mother) and Best Director (M. Night Shyamalan, who also wrote the story).

The film, with a budget of approximately $40 million, earned $293,501,675 in the United States and a worldwide gross of $672,806,292, making it the #22 on the list of box-office money earned in the U.S. as of December 2005.

The line "I see dead people" became a popular catchphrase after the film's release. A parody: "I see dumb people." was printed on t-shirts due to the excessive use of the original line.

Cast

• Haley Joel Osment (Cole Sear)
• Bruce Willis (Malcolm Crowe)
• Toni Collette (Lynn Sear)
• Olivia Williams (Anna Crowe)
• Glenn Fitzgerald (Sean)
• Mischa Barton (Kyra Collins)
• Donnie Wahlberg (Vincent Gray)

Trivia

The book DisneyWar contains an account of the business dealings behind The Sixth Sense:

• David Vogel of The Walt Disney Company read Shyamalan's spec script and instantly loved it. Without obtaining approval from his boss, Vogel bought the rights to the script, despite the high price of USD$2 million and the stipulation that Shyamalan could direct the film. Disney later stripped Vogel of the title of President of Walt Disney Pictures, and Vogel left the company.
• Walt Disney Pictures, apparently in a show of little confidence in the film, sold the profits to Spyglass Entertainment, and kept only a 12.5 percent distribution fee for itself.

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