It’s hard not to be drawn in to a movie that features characters seemingly trapped in a dangerous situation as a ticking clock slowly creeps towards imminent danger. Proving that point just earlier this month was the release of Whalefall, in which a character is swallowed by a whale and needs to use his wits to find a way to escape. Previously, titles like Open Water and 47 Meters Down similarly plunged characters into aquatic depths with dwindling changes of escaping.
In the new survival thriller Above the Below, we get a new spin on a seemingly familiar premise, as astronauts crash land in an ocean. The first trailer for the movie has been released, which you can see below. Above the Below hits theaters on December 4.
Lionsgate describes the movie, “After three astronauts survive a disaster in space, their unscheduled crash-landing leaves them trapped in the crushing depths of the ocean with no contact with mission control and oxygen rapidly running out. In a race against time where every breath could be their last, the crew faces impossible choices, mounting odds, and new dangers in this pulse-pounding story about what we do when faced with the greatest stakes imaginable.”
Idris Elba co-directs with Martin Owen and stars in this survival-thriller alongside Caitlin FitzGerald and Hero Fiennes Tiffin. Elizabeth Morris, Matthew Mitchell, and Vicki Sargent wrote the screenplay.
In a world that grows increasingly fixated on finding ways to cut corners, especially when it comes to visual effects, Elba previously explained how many elements of the new movie were done practically.
“I’m very excited to show people that I can hold my breath for four minutes. Joking aside (I can hold my breath for that long), but you know, this film was very practical,” Elba explained of the movie to Collider. “We did a lot of the things in this film. We did build the spacecraft, we submerged it in water, we shot a lot of it underwater. There’s a real practicality to this film that adds to the claustrophobia and the thriller aspect of it. So I’m really excited for people to literally go on that journey with us, from space to the ocean, and be entertained, be thrilled, and be claustrophobic.”
Above the Below lands in theaters on December 4.
Are you looking forward to the new thriller? Let us know in the comments below!