XYZ Films has boarded worldwide sales on Sentient Entertainment’s shark thriller Alphas starring Martin Henderson (Virgin River, Grey’s Anatomy) and will introduce to buyers at AFM next week.
Liam O’Donnell (Beyond Skyline, Portals) will direct the Australia-UK co-production and Taken and District 13 director Pierre Morel will produce alongside his partners Renee Tab and Christopher Tuffin of Sentient, and Matthew Chausse and Drew Bailey.
Principal photography is scheduled to start in Australia in early 2024 on Alphas, which takes place in a quiet surfing community where killer whales are enlisted to fend off great white sharks after a series of attacks.
When the alpha great white shark proves too powerful to stop, a local surfing legend and a retired orca trainer come together to unleash the most dangerous killer whale they have ever known to stop the shark and save their town.
Frank Hannah (The Cooler) co-wrote the screenplay with Christopher Tuffin and O’Donnell.
Henderson is best known for roles in Netflix’s Virgin River, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, as well as X, Everest, Smokin’ Aces and The Ring.
Sentient’s action comedy Freelance directed by Morel and starring John Cena and Alison Brie opens theatrically nationwide on Friday (October 27) through Relativity Media.
Sentient is in post-production on Canary Black starring Kate Beckinsdale, in pre-production on Last Meals starring Samuel L. Jackson and Boyd Holbrook, and has a remake of The Others set up at Universal.
Tab and Tuffin also served as executive produced this summer’s breakout smash Sound Of Freedom which has grossed $234m worldwide.
XYZ Films’ current titles include Atom Egoyan’s TIFF selection Seven Veils starring Amanda Seyfried; Ash with Eiza González and Aaron Paul and directed by Flying Lotus; Netflix Original Havoc from Gareth Evans (The Raid series) and starring Tom Hardy and Forest Whitaker; and Daniela Forever directed by Nacho Vigalondo and starring Henry Golding and Beatrice Grannó.
O’Donnell is represented by Zero Gravity Management and Miloknay Weiner. Henderson is represented by CAA, Entertainment 360 and RGM Artists.
Originally published at https://www.screendaily.com/news/xyz-films-afm-bound-with-sentient-entertainment-shark-thriller-alphas-starring-martin-henderson-exclusive/5187289.article
