Thirteen years ago, the $500,000 shark thriller OPEN WATER, about a scuba-diving couple being stranded in the shark-infested sea, made almost $55 million at the global box office. That was enough to establish the title OPEN WATER as something distributor Lions Gate could use to brand other aquatic thrillers with. They did that two years later, when they acquired the unrelated film ADRIFT, about a group of friends who get stranded in the water when they can't get back onto their yacht, and released it as OPEN WATER 2: ADRIFT.
It's been eleven years, but the OPEN WATER brand is now being revived.
Australian sales outfit Odin's Eye has secured distribution deals for Gerald Rascionato's shark thriller CAGE DIVE in multiple territories around the globe, and among the distributors who have picked up the film is Lionsgate. In a number of key markets, CAGE DIVE is going to be released as OPEN WATER: CAGE DIVE.
Directed by Rascionato from a story he crafted with Stephen Lister, CAGE DIVE followsÂ
three American tourists making an audition tape of a shark cage dive for a reality TV show. A catastrophic turn of events leaves them stranded in the waters of South Australia surrounded by hungry great white sharks.
CAGE DIVE will be receiving a wide release in some countries, like Italy and Mexico, while it will be getting a day-and-date theatrical and VOD release in the U.S.