With a British distributor, Cornerstone, another shark film is about to enter the already-ruthless American film market.
In Kiah Roache-Turner’s upcoming survival action thriller Beast of War, the company has reteamed with the genre writer and director (Sting, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, Nekrotronic). The story follows a group of soldiers who become stranded in the open ocean and must engage in a thrilling struggle for survival against the ultimate apex predator, a great white shark. The project will be introduced at the next AFM, with Cornerstone handling global sales and distribution.
Beast of conflict, which is set in 1942, follows a cruiser as it crosses the Timor Sea to deliver hundreds of Australian soldiers to the front lines of the conflict. Japanese fighter jets explode out of the sky, and the ocean turns into a nightmare of steel, fire, oil, and blood in a matter of minutes. After the ship is destroyed, a few soldiers manage to survive by improvising a raft out of floating wreckage. As the young guys join together in a desperate attempt to survive, tensions between them are intense. But they still have a tremendous fight ahead of them. A great white shark searches the debris below in the dark, attracted to the scent of new blood in the water.
Production on the movie, which will start in Australia and Malta in 2024, is being handled by Bronte Pictures’ Blake Northfield (Streamline, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, Escape and Evasion) and Pictures in Paradise’s Chris Brown (Sting, Daybreakers, The Railway Man). The practical creature effects will be produced by Australian firm CreatureNFX’s director Paul Trefry, who has directed films such as Alien: Covenant and Unbroken and has collaborated with directors James Cameron, Ridley Scott, and Baz Luhrmann.
After beginning his professional career in the commercial sector, Roache-Turner published Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead in 2015, which had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin. Wyrmwood: Apocalypse took up the Audience Award at the Sydney Film Festival in 2021, while his follow-up film Nekrotonic, starring Monica Bellucci, made its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Roache-Turner’s next arachnophobia horror film, Sting, will be distributed internationally by Cornerstone and distributed by Studiocanal in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Benelux.
Mark Gooder offered his thoughts, saying, “We loved working with Kiah on Sting.” Alison Thompson of Cornerstone concurred. “We know he will deliver a unique and action-packed shark movie because he is a kinetic filmmaker with a deep respect for the genre.”