Black Tides will be directed by Renny Harlin, director of 1999's Deep Blue Sea and upcoming shark-thriller, Deep Waters. Produced by Nostromo (who will also be producing Harlin's latest return to shark infested waters), the movie, written by Chris Sparling and Ángel Agudo, is inspired by the real-life orca attacks on the boats off the Strait of Gibraltar near Spain.
Here's what we learned about the plot from Deadline:
"The film will tell the story of Rebecca, who reunites with her estranged father, Bill, in sunny Málaga expecting a healing family trip with her young son, Sebastian. Instead, their voyage across the Strait of Gibraltar becomes a nightmare as they’re relentlessly attacked by rogue orcas. Rebecca, confronting deep emotional wounds, must rise as an unlikely hero in a battle for survival."
With an emotionally charged and intriguing storyline, we're excited to see what Harlin can do when he shifts his focus from sharks to killer whales. This movie will mark the return of this apex predator to the horror genre for the first time properly since 1977's Orca.
Capitalizing on the success of Jaws, Orca followed a Moby Dick-like plot of animal versus man. A sea captain responsible for the accidental death of the titular Orca's mate and child (fun fact: the pair of orcas filmed in the movie were real-life mates and performers) is hunted by the animal to the ends of the earth, or in this case, the Arctic. With Orca's lack of box-office success, poor ratings, and the rise of changing audience perception about killer whales, Orca drifted into horror obscurity to be replaced by movies like Free Willy and left the terrorizing of the fictional oceans to the sharks.
While I'm firmly on the sides of the whales, there has been an unprecedented rise in orcas attacking boats and yachts off the Strait of Gibraltar. Though no humans have ever been documented as being harmed during these attacks, the orcas leave the boats dismantled, and often without the use of their motors, stranding people on their boats until they can be rescued. It'll be interesting to see where Harlin chooses to blur the line between the reality of the attacks and the sensationalism of horror. These animals are highly intelligent and incredibly dangerous so there's no limit to what could be done with them.
I'm especially looking forward to seeing how the special effects will play out in Black Tides. If you weren't aware, Deep Blue Sea used a mix of lifelike animatronics and CGI for the shark attack scenes to make them look as real and as terrifying as possible. With advancements in both animatronics and CGI, I can't wait to see how they'll create the attack scenes with the orcas.
As a fan of Harlin's Deep Blue Sea, I can only hope we see the director bring the same sense of action, thrill, and suspense to his new movie. After all, who can forget Samuel L. Jackson's monologue about surviving an avalanche right before he gets taken out by a shark?
Black Tides will begin filming late this summer and we couldn't be more excited!