Sam Worthington is in advanced negotiations to join the high seas battle between Orcas and Sharks in ALPHAS

With the hotly anticipated AVATAR 2 and 3 sequels heading to theaters worldwide on Christmas 2021 and 2022 respectively, Sam Worthington is in advanced negotiations to leave Pandora briefly to join the high seas battle between Orcas and Sharks in ALPHAS.

 

When the local Great White population spirals out of control, environmentalist Gavin McDade (Sam Worthington) is tasked with finding a natural solution to the shark problem. He tracks down the owner of a nearby Killer Whale sanctuary, whose career as an Orca trainer was cut short when she was attacked by the star of her own show. She reluctantly agrees to reintroduce a pod of juvenile Orcas into the same waters to drive out the sharks, but soon realizes there’s a female alpha Great White lurking beneath the surface capable of destroying them all. With nowhere else to turn and with his rebellious sister’s surf competition quickly approaching, Gavin must convince the former trainer to unleash the same creature that nearly killed her in what will become the greatest battle of apex predators the oceans have ever seen.

 

Sam Worthington will reprise his role of Jake Sully in the “Avatar" film series which has grossed over $2.7 billion to date, and has previously starred as Marcus Wright in "Terminator Salvation” grossing $372M, and Perseus in "Clash of the Titans" as well as its sequel "Wrath of the Titans” which made a combined total of over $800M worldwide. More recently, Sam starred in the drama fantasy “The Shack” opposite Octavia Spencer which garnered over $96M worldwide.

 

Steven Quale ("Into the Storm", “Aliens of the Deep”, the latter of which he co-directed with James Cameron) is directing based on a screenplay by Frank Hannah ("The Cooler") from an original story by Hannah and Christopher Tuffin. Quale began his career as Cameron's second unit director on "Titanic" and "Avatar". His previous credits include "Final Destination 5".

 

Pierre Morel (“Taken”, “Peppermint”) and Endurance’s Steve Richards will produce alongside Sentient’s Renee Tab and Christopher Tuffin. Sentient's Jake Martin and Square One's Al Munteanu will executive produce along with Voltage Pictures’ Jonathan Deckter and Nicolas Chartier.

 

The film is being financed in part by Endurance Media. Endurance recently financed "Come Away" starring Angelina Jolie. They are financing/co-producing "Losing Clementine" starring Jessica Chastain alongside Sentient, who most recently executive produced “Peppermint” directed by Pierre Morel and “Sound of Freedom” directed by Alejandro Monteverde.

 

Worldwide sales are being handled by Sentient Pictures International, Voltage and UTA. The producers have made a few early sales including: Germany (Square One/Prosieben), Spain (YouPlanet), Middle East (Italia), Turkey (Italia), Greece (Italia), Turkey (Italia).  With a huge early response from buyers, Voltage will continue International sales efforts in Berlin.

 

Sentient has an overall/output deal with Italia. Italia Film has been Walt Disney Pictures’ (and now Twentieth Century Fox's as well) exclusive distributor in the Middle East since 1993 and since 2014 they have been in an exclusive relationship with Dreamworks/Amblin. The Sentient/Italia deal also consists of a mid-six figures development/overhead fund, which the company acquired the Tony Mosher spec “Sirius" via which Pierre Morel is attached to direct.

 

Academy Award winning VFX shop BUF ("Bladerunner 2049")  and Important Looking Pirates ("The Shallows", "Kon Tiki") will handle the creature VFX. Pete Zuccarini ("Avatar 2 and 3", "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise") will choreograph and shoot the underwater sequences.

 

ALPHAS will begin principal photography in Puerto Rico this Summer.