Whalefall teaser released, film set for Oct 16 2026 debut

The first trailer for "Whalefall," a survival thriller from 20th Century Studios, was released on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. The film, an adaptation of Daniel Kraus's 2023 novel, stars Austin Abrams as a scuba diver who is swallowed by a sperm whale and must escape before his oxygen runs out. The movie is scheduled for an exclusive theatrical release on October 16, 2026.

The story follows Jay Gardiner, played by Abrams, who dives off the central coast of California to search for the remains of his deceased father, Mitt, portrayed by Josh Brolin. During the dive, Jay is attacked by a giant squid and then consumed by an 80-foot sperm whale. Trapped inside the creature with only one hour of oxygen remaining, he must navigate its multiple stomachs to survive, all while grappling with unresolved grief surrounding his father's death by suicide the previous year.

Director Brian Duffield, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kraus, emphasized that the film is as much a father-son drama as it is a survival thriller. He described the narrative challenge of setting almost the entire movie inside the whale, playing out in near real-time to heighten tension. The production relied heavily on...