Highland Film Group has officially locked down a massive wave of international distribution deals across all media for its upcoming shark survival actioner, White.
Anchored by action royalty Kate Beckinsale (Underworld) and Katherine McNamara (Shadowhunters), the thriller recently wrapped cameras in Los Angeles and Bulgaria.
Rising talent Carla Woodcock (Outlander, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder) has snatched the lead role. She’s stepping straight into the crosshairs of very hungry predators.
High-Altitude Disaster Meets an Aquatic Nightmare
Helmed by cult horror veteran Jake West (Evil Aliens) and written by Dogwitch comic creator Dan Schaffer, White serves up Hollywood glamour turned aquatic nightmare.
Struggling actress Willa Harba (Woodcock) barely survives a catastrophic private jet crash in the Pacific. She ends up marooned on a fractured wing. Her salvaged satellite phone offers little comfort when her self-obsessed studio boss, Barbara (Beckinsale), dismisses her emergency call. Willa’s only real lifeline becomes marine biologist Sam Swatek (McNamara). Who delivers the ultimate bad news: Willa has crash-landed directly inside the “White Shark Café.” The legendary oceanic hotspot where great whites gather in large numbers.
Heavyweight Power Behind the Scenes
Highland Film Group is co-financing and handling worldwide rights. Veteran producers Yariv Lerner (Hellboy), Dominic Burns (Jay and Silent Bob Reboot), Crawford Anderson-Dillon, and Sky Morfopoulos back the project. Executive producers include Beckinsale, Highland’s Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier, alongside Patrick Wintersgill, Kevin Glynn, Pauric Duffy, and Hannah Leader.
The Real White Shark Café
Located halfway between Baja California and Hawaii, Stanford University researchers first discovered the White Shark Café while tracking tagged sharks. Coastal adult great white sharks unexpectedly gather every winter and spring. The area was discovered by Stanford University researchers tracking satellite tags. Scientists were stunned to find hundreds of sharks deliberately making the 2,500-mile journey into what was previously thought to be an oceanic desert.
Once there, both male and female sharks display bizarre behavior, making rapid deep dives down to 1,500 feet up to 120 times a day. While marine biologists initially assumed the sharks were migrating to feed on deep-sea squid, the mysterious gathering and intense diving patterns strongly suggest the café also doubles as a vital mid-ocean courtship and mating site. Imagine being stranded in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by huge numbers of hungry, extra-aggressive sharks.
Highland’s Stacked Star-Studded Slate
The shark thriller arrives alongside a blockbuster slate for Highland Film Group. Their upcoming catalog includes Nimród Antal’s sci-fi thriller Bluefly, starring Russell Crowe and Priyanka Chopra Jonas; Neil Burger’s Barracuda, starring Anthony Mackie and Dafne Keen; and Justin Chadwick’s spy thriller The Mark, with Jessica Alba. Pierre Morel’s The Good Samaritan also stars Daisy Ridley and Josh Duhamel. Also, there’s Lisette Feliciano’s Iron Jane starring Eiza González.
Sarah Camlett at Independent Talent Group represents Woodcock.
