It has been a little over a year since it was announced that FINAL DESTINATION 5 director Steven Quale was taking the helm of a "sharks vs. a whale" thriller called ALPHAS. Now we finally have a positive update on that project – Sam Worthington has signed on to star in it, and filming is scheduled to begin in Puerto Rico this summer.
Hannah and Christopher Tuffin crafted the story for this one, and Frank Hannah has written the screenplay. We previously heard that ALPHAS will be set in
a coastal community terrorised by a school of sharks. The townspeople decide the only way to deal with the man-eating threat is to unleash a damaged killer whale held for years in solitary confinement after it killed its trainer.
The casting of Worthington brings the information that he will be playing
an environmentalist who must convince the owner of a killer whale sanctuary to unleash the orca that nearly killed her in an attempt to drive away a spiralling Great White shark population led by a fierce alpha shark.
A Sentient and Endurance Media production, ALPHAS is being produced by Pierre Morel, Endurance's Steve Richards, and Sentient's Renee Tab and Christopher Tuffin. Jake Martin of Sentient, Al Munteanu of Square One, and Jonathan Deckter and Nicholas Chartier of Voltage Pictures serve as executive producers. Voltage Pictures is currently presenting the project to potential distributors at the European Film Market.
I am totally on board to watch the story of a killer whale battling a school of fierce sharks. The set-up reminds me of the JAWS knock-off TENTACLES, in which a pair of killer whales were recruited to battle that film's rampaging octopus.
Everyone is aiming to make ALPHAS a "highly commercial, yet sophisticated" blockbuster.