The Daily Jaws guide to shark movies coming in 2024
Whether it is a great white shark, or even a not-so-great white shark, we can’t seem to get enough of the shark film, so here are all the shark movies expected to be swimming to a small or bigger screen in 2024.
We know none will reach the lofty heights of Steven Spielberg’s JAWS (1975), but to be fair many won’t be trying to, but you can be sure of the odd nudge and wink to the classic film, which could land in the form of dialogue, visual gag or even poster homage.
Last year saw a stream of shark films - good, bad and ugly – including the likes of The Meg 2: The Trench, The Black Demon and even shark action in The Little Mermaid.
Ross Wiliams, Director and Founder of The Daily Jaws, the world’s number one JAWS fan site, said: “This year is an important one in terms of shark cinema as it marks 50 years since JAWS began filming in Martha’s Vineyard, a watershed not just for shark films but still a high point for great cinema and the films of Steven Spielberg, which is no small feat.
“Arguably, without the success of JAWS and its sequels JAWS 2, JAWS 3D and JAWS the Revenge we wouldn’t have all the shark films set for release in 2024, and film and shark fans still can’t get enough of seeing dorsal fins slicing through the water toward their next victim.
“The debate still rages as to whether these sharksploitation films are bad for the reputation of sharks or whether we can separate fin fiction from fact; which many of us can – meaning we can be both entertained by poor CGI sharks that act as a gateway to better shark cinema and at the same time help create a better environment for sharks in the real world. All of which means shark films – in all their forms – are ultimately a force for good. And yes, we’ll stand by that, and those proportions are indeed correct.”
Shark Island
Expected release date: January 5, 2024
First out of the shark film release gates for 2024 is Shark Island, but don’t worry it’s only a Shark Island if you look at it from the water, right?
IMDB lists the film - directed by Stephen ‘Scruffy’ Edgewood - as being about a magazine photo shoot that is scheduled to take place on a remote, shark infested island. Hey, at least they’ll have models in the photos to give the sharks some scale.
With models wearing a rare $10 million dollar necklace for a wealthy investor and the promise that perhaps it isn’t the sharks in the water that the group need to worry about. This sounds like one shark film we probably don’t need to worry about delivering on the shark action, as they almost sound secondary.
Starring Michael Pare (Streets of Fire) it is also safe to say that the inhabitants of Amity Island won’t be getting too worried about Shark Island taking their shark crown.
No Way Up
Expected release date: February 16, 2024
From the director Hollow Man 2 (2006) comes this underwater peril that stars Colm Meaney, Chief Miles O’Brien from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and the grandson of John Hammond himself from Jurassic Park (1993), Richard Attenborough’s grandson Will Attenborough.
In a plot that sounds somewhat familiar to Airport ’77, a plane crashes in the ocean and comes to rest on the edge of a ravine, its survivors trapped in the ticking clock of an air pocket. Although they have enough to fear the inside, it is what wants to get to them from the outside that they really need to worry about.
The Red Triangle
Expected release date: TBC
The Red Triangle of the title is a real area in Northern California that covers 200 miles of coastline, stretching south from Bodega Bay toward San Francisco and beyond the Farallon Islands and down to Big Sur south of Monterey.
It is said to be the location of almost half of all recorded shark attacks in the United States, all of which makes it the perfect location and title for a new shark film.
What makes this film stand out from the pack of most of the shark films of 2024 though is its director, Johannes Roberts, who is no stranger to shark-infested waters having previously directed by 47 Meters Down and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged – two of the best received shark films of recent years.
Unlike JAWS, the people featured in the film do have a bigger boat, in the form of a cruise, but when it begins to sink in The Red Triangle with thousands of passengers on board, the sharks begin to pick them off. Think Titanic via The Poseidon Adventure with sharks, and we can’t wait for the claustrophobia and raising of legs to begin.
One thing is for sure, we’ll never put on a lifejacket again.
Beast of War
Expected release date: currently in pre-production
Hotly anticipated as this sounds like the nearest we’ll get to another version of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis – as recounted by Quint (Robert Shaw) in JAWS.
This newly announced film isn’t that, but with a TV movie – The Mission of the Shark – and film – USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage – we’ve already seen the true-life story of the USS Indianapolis story brought to the screen, giving us a flavour of what may be to come with Beast Of War.
Directed and written by Kiah Roache-Turner, the film is about two young soldiers, fresh out of boot camp find themselves stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean after their ship is sunk by the enemy and must battle for their lives against a giant hungry great white shark.
One thing it will share with JAWS is that is a practical shark. So even if the synopsis doesn’t float your boat, then perhaps seeing a practical great white shark looming out of the water will captivate us just like it did back in the summer of 1975?
Into The Deep
Expected release date: currently in post-production
Talking of JAWS…in a canny piece of casting, almost 50 years after taking on a great white shark in JAWS, Matt Hooper actor Richard Dreyfuss is back ‘in sharks’ in upcoming shark thriller, Into The Deep.
According to the write up on IMDB, the film is about a group of divers searching for sunken treasure who witness the murder of drug dealers by modern-day pirates, but that is the least of their worries as a killer great white shark stands between them and their escape from the water.
The film, directed by Christian Sesma, is currently listed as in post-production, which means we should see the film surface sometime later this year.
Dreyfuss is the only main surviving cast member of the Steven Spielberg shark classic, which is based on the book by Peter Benchley.
The Last Breath
Date expected to surface: Listed on IMDB as being in post-production
College friends unite for a scuba diving trip in the Caribbean, where they decide to explore the wreck of a World War 2 battleship. Their reunion trip could also be their final resting place as they find themselves trapped in the steel ship whilst great white sharks surround them.
It’s based on a story by Andrew Prendergast, who also directed Shark Bait (2022), and has a script by Nick Saltrese, who was also on scriptwriting duties on Shark Bait, which we said was the shark film of the year in 2022.
With a cast of three stranded under the water, played by Jack Parr (Peaky Blinders), Kim Spearman and Arlo Carter, this could be the shark film to give us some JAWS vibes. We also get the late great Julian Sands, which will be his final released film since his tragic and untimely death.
The film was shot in late 2022, just a few months before Sands went missing while hiking in California. The actor’s remains were found in June last year on Mount Baldy. Let’s hope that this will be a fitting sign off for The Killing Fields, A Room With A View, Warlock and Arachnophobia, the latter which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg and was essentially JAWS with spiders.
Under Paris
Expected release date: summer 2024
Netflix has been filming an in-Seine shark movie, quite literally, as it is about a shark swimming in the River Seine and is set during the Paris 2024 Olympics, so no gold medals for guessing when this is likely to be released.
Directed by Xavier Gens, the as yet untitled film stars Nassim Lyes and Bérénice Bejo and already sounds deliciously bonkers.
Alphas
Expected release date: looking to start filming early 2024
Screen Daily exclusively revealed that Martin Henderson (best known for Virgin River and Grey’s Anatomy but no stranger to horror with X and The Ring) will now star in this long gestating shark-versus-killer whale thriller, which was once set to star Avatar’s Sam Worthington.
Helming the Australian and UK co-production is Liam O’Donnell (Beyond Skyline, Portals).
Principal photography is set to begin in Australia early 2024, which is also where the likes of The Reef, Great White and Bait were all filmed. It’s also where the live shark footage for JAWS was filmed by Ron and Valerie Taylor, 50 years earlier – this film helping to continue the shark film legacy.
Screen Daily now described Alphas taking place in a quiet surfing community where killer whales are enlisted to fend off great white sharks after a series of attacks.
When the alpha great white shark proves too powerful to stop, a local surfing legend and a retired orca trainer come together to unleash the most dangerous killer whale they have ever known to stop the shark and save their town.
JAWS may have transferred from page to screen very quickly, but The Meg took over 20 years to swim to the surface, so some shark films can take their time to reach an audience.
The plot still remains intriguing, which is why it is something we all want to see it realised on the big screen, especially with several stories and video emerging of Orcas killing great white sharks, making it almost ripped from the pages of reality.
We don't mind when it comes to the surface, but just that it does find its way to water and our screens.
Close to shore
Date expected to surface: listed on IMDB as currently in pre-production
Not to be confused with the same-titled book by Michael Capuzzo about the Jersey Shore shark attacks from 1916, this film sounds more like Peter Benchley’s The Deep, as it sees a couple who find some artefacts whilst diving.
Finding the items to be more valuable than they first thought, they head back to the ocean floor, hoping to avoid the sharks and a local kingpin who wants the sunken treasure for himself.
Shallow Descent
Date expected to surface: listed on IMDB as currently in pre-production
It may have a title that sounds like one of those direct to DVD or streaming Steven Seagal films, but Shallow Descent follows the Broady family (we see what they did there) to the Florida Keys for an action-packed weekend but ends up become more action-orientated than they could ever have imagined. And as the poster shows a pair of legs sticking out of the mouth of a shark, it looks like it doesn’t end well for at least one member of this Broady family.
Something in the Water
Date expected to surface: listed on IMDB as having completed production
The film follows five female friends celebrating a wedding in a beautiful, remote location.
The day before the wedding, they embark on a boat trip to create some lasting memories, but it ends up being memorable for all the wrong reasons. Clearly, Mama Mia, this ain't. Perhaps an alternative title could have been Four Funerals and a Wedding?
That's pretty much all the story details we currently have, but so far it sounds like it could be a mix of The Shallows meets The Reef.
It's set to be helmed by Gaby Dellal, who also directed 3 Generations, and the script is by Scottish novelist Cat Clarke, based on her own original idea.
Five women, a quintet if you will, on a boat being circled by a shark or sharks, the 'female Jaws' comparisons are sure to come thick and fast.
This film was originally first seen on our forthcoming shark films list in 2021, so here’s hoping we get to see it released this year.
Fear Below
Date expected to surface: Listed as in production on IMDB
Pitched as Peaky Blinders meets JAWS, this film is set in Australia in the 1940s and sees a rag-tag (what else) team of professional divers hired to locate a sunken car in a river, which turns out to be full of stolen gold bullion.
They’ve been hired by the people who stole the loot, who prove just as dangerous as the bull shark that stands between them and the contents of the car. The film is written, produced and directed by Matthew Holmes.
Words by Dean Newman
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