‘Beast Of War:’ Kiah Roache-Turner To Direct WW2 Shark Thriller, Cornerstone To Launch Sales At AFM

Zac Ntim
·2 min read

Genre filmmaker Kiah Roache-Turner has reteamed with Cornerstone for his latest pic, Beast Of War, which the company will launch at the upcoming American Film Market.

Described as a “survival action thriller,” the film follows a band of soldiers stranded in the open ocean who must face a heart-pounding battle for survival against the ultimate apex predator — a great white shark.

More from Deadline

Beast of War is produced by Bronte Pictures’ Blake Northfield (Streamline, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, Escape and Evasion) and Pictures in Paradise’s Chris Brown (Sting, Daybreakers, The Railway Man) and will begin production in 2024 in Australia and Malta. CreatureNFX’s director, Paul Trefry (Alien: Covenant, Unbroken), will create practical creature effects from his studio in Australia. Trefry is well known for his work with directors such as James Cameron, Ridley Scott, and Baz Luhrmann.

Full synopsis reads: 1942. A warship carries hundreds of Australian soldiers across the Timor Sea to the frontline of WW2. Suddenly, Japanese fighter jets scream out of the sky, and within minutes the ocean becomes a hell of steel, fire, oil, and blood. With the vessel destroyed, a handful of soldiers build a makeshift raft from floating debris as they cling to their lives. Tensions run high between the hot-headed and terrified young men, as they band together in an effort to survive. But their biggest battle is yet to come. In the dark below, a great white shark hunts in the wreckage and is drawn to the smell of fresh blood in the water.

“We loved working with Kiah on Sting. He’s a kinetic filmmaker with a deep respect for the genre and we know he will deliver a distinctive and adrenaline-fuelled shark movie,” said Cornerstone’s Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder.

Roache-Turner started his career in the commercial world and in 2015 he released his debut film Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, which debuted at Fantastic Fest in Austin. His follow-up feature Nekrotonic, starring Monica Bellucci, premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse won the Audience Award at the 2021 Sydney Film Festival.

Cornerstone is handling worldwide sales and distribution for Kiah’s upcoming arachnophobia horror Sting which will be released by Studiocanal in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Benelux.

Check out the film’s poster below.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.