‘Blackfish’ Director Boards Adventure-Thriller ‘The Search’

Blackfish” director Gabriela Cowperthwaite has chosen her next project, the adventure-thriller “The Search.”

Voltage’s Nicolas Chartier and Craig J. Flores will produce alongside Sherryl Clark. Babacar Diene is overseeing the project on behalf of Voltage, with Bill Karesh from Busted Shark.

Voltage Pictures will handle worldwide distribution for the film.

“Blackfish” premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and grossed $2.2 million in the U.S. for Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films. The documentary generated significant controversy over the issue of captive killer whales at SeaWorld.

Variety reported in January that Voltage had picked up rights to Spencer Mondshein’s script “The Search,” which made the Black List last year. The story centers on an expert tracker who battles his demons while on a journey to rescue his estranged older brother, who’s struggling to survive near-fatal wounds sustained while exploring the uncharted Northwest wilderness.

“The Search” was the first script sale for Mondshein, a former assistant on “Boardwalk Empire.”

Cowperthwaite previously directed the documentary “City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story,” and co-produced and directed programs for the History channel, the National Geographic Channel, the Discovery Channel and ESPN.

Voltage Films and Clark recently collaborated on “Fathers and Daughters,” starring Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried. Voltage just wrapped production on the Nicholas Cage thriller “Pay the Ghost” and began principal photography this week on the tech thriller “I.T.,” starring Pierce Brosnan.

Cowperthwaite is repped by Verve and Black Box Management. Mondshein is repped by APA, Management 360and Michael Schenkman at Bloom Hergott.