[5][6] It stars Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré and Oliver Finnegan, and follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist who becomes trapped in a vast, untouched forest in the west of Ireland.

At a pet shop in Galway, an American named Mina is asked to deliver a golden conure parrot to a zoo near Belfast.

Daniel helps Mina explore a Burrow, where she unearths several items like a camcorder and a bicycle and narrowly escapes a Watcher.

They witness the Watchers, humanoid creatures that imitate the Coop's occupants and react angrily to Madeline and Mina's absence.

The pair get back into the Coop and Madeline explains that the Watchers are shapeshifting fairies attempting to learn how to better mimic humans.

Mina reconciles with her estranged twin sister and explains that Madeline now acts as a guardian for her, who is currently in the form of a young girl in a crowd.

In February 2023, New Line Cinema announced it would produce The Watchers, written and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan in her feature directorial debut.

[2][17] In the United States and Canada, The Watchers was released alongside Bad Boys: Ride or Die, and was projected to gross around $8–10 million from 3,350 theaters in its opening weekend.

The website's consensus reads: "Heavy on eerie mood but undone by an obtuse script, The Watchers can only hold the gaze for so long before tedium sets in.

[a] Dylan Roth of The Observer commended the Shyamalan family for "never obscuring the nepotism at play" during the press tour, but wrote, "The Watchers did not convince me of much.

"[15] In a similarly negative but contrasting review, Bob Strauss of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "There's an inelegant blend of Celtic folklore thriller ... [and] contemporary horror movie tropes that renders the result unsatisfying for fans of either genre.

"[25] RelishMix, which analyzes activity across social media platforms to summarize the public's general responses to a film's marketing, said it received 9% more attention than "first installment horror norms" but that "negative convo on The Watchers is limited to those turned off by M. Night Shyamalan's involvement as a producer after being dissatisfied with many of his past cinematic ventures.

"[12] In a mixed review for AV Club, Katie Rife concluded, "The Watchers is clearly a first film, with the promise and the problems that come with it.

"[26] Michael Phillips's review for Chicago Tribune, rated three out of four stars, stated that Shyamalan "works well with cinematographer Eli Arenson to envelop the chamber-sized ensemble in various shades of dread, or comfort.

"[27] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film 2.5/5 stars, writing, "The Watchers starts on an extremely promising note.