Nicholas Sparks x M. Night Shyamalan Introduce “Remain”
Here’s a pairing of two writers that I’m not sure we’d ever thought we’d see come together with a united piece of work … Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan.
Both writers have such distinct brands, such distinct voices and styles that it’s hard to imagine how they would fold together. In fact I’ll put it right out there and say that these two writers are amongst the most well positioned writers ever, from a branding perspective. There are others for sure, but these two are perfectly positioned brands in the marketplace.
How could they form a partnership and what is that product going to look like?!? One is known for incredible love stories and the other is known for incredible thrillers or horror stories.
What could they possibly have in common that would bring them together?
Amazing storytelling for sure. But even more so, plot twists! Yes indeed, both of these brands know how to twist a story and catch their reader off guard with a turn to the story that no one saw coming. Well yes they throw in some some bread crumbs that you catch on a second read, but not at first. And part of the magic that both of these brands give their readers is the joy of trying to figure out where the plot is going to turn and how. And it’s nearly impossible!
So now we have a storytelling collab of love, thriller, twists … unbeatable?!?
Of course M. Night is more of a screen writer and filmmaker so there’s a movie coming out based on the collaboration starring Jake Gyllenhaal, adding some screen power to the storyline as well.
The book is coming out now with anticipation of the film set for release in October of 2026. When powerful brands come together there’s sure to be a lot of buzz. It’ll be interesting to note if we see the typical chatter about “the book being better than the movie,” and in fact there’s already speculation that the movie may have a different ending/twist then the book.
That would be brand(s) consistency!
What’s your experience? JIM