Idris Elba will take on a man-eating lion in survival thriller Beast

Universal Pictures has announced that they have a "must see" project in the works: a survival thriller called BEAST, which is set to star Idris Elba – an actor who is always great, even when the films he's in aren't so great.

CONTRABAND / 2 GUNS director Baltasar Kormakur will be directing BEAST, working from a screenplay by Ryan Engle (writer of the Dwayne Johnson video game movie RAMPAGE). The idea came from Jaime Primak-Sullivan, who previously worked with Engle on the James McTeigue / Gabrielle Union thriller BREAKING IN.

BEAST is said to be 

in the vein of THE SHALLOWS but instead of sharks, a lion with be involved as the central antagonist.

That's all the plot information that's available at this time, but the fact that BEAST is going to show us Idris Elba being stalked by a lion is enough to guarantee that I'm going to be watching it.

Will Packer and James Lopez will be producing the film for Will Packer Productions, while Kormakur produces through his company RVK Studios and Primak-Sullivan serves as executive producer. Matt Reilly and Tony Ducret will be overseeing the project for Universal.

Kormakur frequently takes the helm of survival thrillers. His 2012 film THE DEEP was about a fisherman being stranded in freezing waters, in 2015 he made a film about climbing EVEREST, and in 2018 he made ADRIFT, about a sailing couple running into trouble at sea.

We'll keep you updated on BEAST as the project moves forward.