The hit shark movie, The Shallows, has resurfaced on a streaming chart. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, with a script written by Anthony Jaswinski, the 2016 survival thriller stars Blake Lively as a medical student who becomes trapped just 200 yards from the shore and must rely on her intelligence and resilience to endure an encounter with a great white shark.
In addition to Blake Lively in the lead role, the cast also includes Óscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen, Sedona Legge, Pablo Calva, Janelle Bailey, Chelsea Moody, Angelo Josue Lozano Corzo, Joseph Salas, Diego Espejel, and Ava Dean.
Now, nine years after its release, The Shallows has resurfaced on streaming, ranking 12th on Hulu’s Top 15 movies in the United States for today, September 17, and should climb the chart in the coming days. For now, it ranks below Bedazzled, Need for Speed, Andrew Santino: White Noise, I Don’t Understand You, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
It also ranks below World War Z, John Wick: Chapter 4, Practical Magic, Kingsman: Secret Service, Abducted in the Everglades, The Other Woman, and above The 40-Year-Old Virgin, The Bob’s Burgers Movie, and Night at the Museum.
What The Shallows’ Streaming Success Means For The Movie
The Shallows was a serious hit at the time of its release in 2017, making over $119 million at the box office, about eight times its production budget in the range of $13–17 million, and making a sizable profit of about $76.6–86.6 million, an impressive total for a low-budget thriller, also considering that Lively was lesser known at the time.
The Shallows reviews were also generally positive, resulting in a strong 79% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it тιԍнтly made and suspenseful, rising above overused shark-attack clichés, delivering sharp thrills and a standout performance from Blake Lively.
The Shallows started streaming on Hulu on September 11 and has quickly risen to 12th on their streaming chart, and is expected to climb the chart in the coming days, continuing the movie’s success nine years later.
Our Take On The Shallows’ Streaming Success
Ever since Steven Spielberg’s Jaws in 1975, shark movies have been a mainstay in cinema, and The Shallows continues that tradition well, leaning more into survival drama than creature-feature spectacle. There is also less emphasis on gore and a more grounded story.
However, unlike Jaws, the shark in The Shallows was created entirely using CGI and was sH๏τ in a tank using green screens. Still, it avoids the more stylized look of similar films using that setup by shooting some scenes on location.
Lively also performed a few of her own stunts, including a scene in which she broke her nose. Overall, The Shallows is a worthy continuation of shark cinema’s enduring legacy.