Another shark film is set to hit the already bloody waters of the American film market, this time from British banner Cornerstone.
The company has teamed up again with genre writer and director Kiah Roache-Turner (Sting, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, Necrotronic) about his upcoming survival action thriller Beast of War, in which a group of soldiers stranded in the open ocean must face a heartbreaking battle for survival against the ultimate apex predator – a great white shark. Cornerstone will handle global sales and distribution and will present the project at the upcoming AFM.
Set in 1942, Beast of War follows a warship transporting hundreds of Australian soldiers across the Timor Sea to the front lines of World War II. Suddenly, Japanese fighter planes scream from the sky and within minutes the ocean turns into a hell of steel, fire, oil and blood. With the ship destroyed, a handful of soldiers build a makeshift raft out of floating debris and cling to their lives. Tensions run high between the hot-headed and frightened young men as they band together to survive. But their biggest battle is still ahead of them. In the darkness below, a great white shark hunts in the rubble, drawn to the smell of fresh blood in the water.
The film is produced by Blake Northfield of Bronte Pictures (Streamline, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, Escape and Evasion) and Chris Brown from Pictures in Paradise (Sting, Day breaker, The railway worker) and will begin production in Australia and Malta in 2024. Paul Trefry, director of CreatureNFX, known for his work with artists such as James Cameron, Ridley Scott and Baz Luhrmann Alien: Covenant And Unbrokenwill create the practical creature effects in its studio in Australia.
Roache-Turner began his career in the commercial world and released his debut film in 2015 Wyrmwood: Street of the Dead, which premiered at Fantastic Fest in Austin. His follow-up film Necrotonicstarring Monica Bellucci, premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse won the Audience Award at the 2021 Sydney Film Festival. Cornerstone is also handling global sales and distribution for Roache-Turner’s upcoming Arachnophobia horror Stingwhich is published by Studiocanal in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Switzerland and Benelux.
“We loved working with Kiah Sting,” said Cornerstone’s Alison Thompson, while Mark Gooder commented. “He is a dynamic filmmaker with great respect for the genre and we know he will deliver a distinctive and adrenaline-pumping shark film.”
Source : www.hollywoodreporter.com