Had been you anxious that there was just one upcoming film the place somebody will get eaten by a whale? Fret not. There are two, really.
Leslie Grace — an actor and singer identified for “Within the Heights” and the “Batgirl” film that Warner Bros. deleted from existence — is about to star in director Felipe Vargas’ subsequent film “Propel” (per Variety), which is described as “‘Gravity’ meets ‘127 Hours’ underwater.” Grace will star as diver Kate Acosta, who finally ends up swallowed by an infinite sperm whale whereas performing a business dive … and who has to determine the right way to escape together with her life.
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The notably humorous factor about this information is that “Whalefall,” a novel by Daniel Kraus, can be being tailored into a serious movement image. In March 2025, Deadline reported that Josh Brolin was in talks to hitch the mission’s forged alongside star Austin Abrams, with Brian Duffield (“No One Will Save You”) serving because the movie’s director. As I’ve already made clear, “Whalefall” follows an identical trajectory as “Propel.” This time, a scuba diver — performed by Abrams — is trying to find the stays of his father, who not too long ago handed away, when he is swallowed by — you guessed it — a sperm whale. With just one hour to determine the right way to escape, the diver is caught in a dire life-and-demise state of affairs.
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In the event you’re in any respect conversant in, you recognize, films, you most likely know that two movies popping out throughout the identical timeframe with the identical premise is not a model-new state of affairs. This has really been occurring for many years, so the excellent news for “Propel” and “Whalefall” is that they are in fairly good firm.
Propel and Whalefall will be a part of the ‘dueling films’ corridor of fame
The phenomenon of “dueling movies,” or “twin movies,” undoubtedly is not new; in actual fact, the primary identified occasion of this occurring was in 1920 when two variations of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” hit theaters. Since then, it is occurred an honest quantity of occasions, like in 1986, when “Prime Gun” and “Iron Eagle” — two films about fighter pilots — got here out, and that very same 12 months, each “Platoon” and “Full Metallic Jacket” advised comparatively comparable tales about serving in Vietnam. “Tombstone” and “Wyatt Earp,” which each occur to be about Earp, got here out in 1993 and 1994, whereas “Showgirls” and “Striptease” launched in 1995 and 1996. (I do not suppose I would like to elucidate the similarity there, proper?)
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Different well-known examples embody “Dante’s Peak” and “Volcano” in 1997, “Antz” and “A Bug’s Life” in 1998, and “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon” that very same 12 months. Though this feels conspicuous — and like one thing studios may need needed to keep away from — it simply retains occurring, like when “Chasing Liberty” and “First Daughter” each explored the experiences of a fictional First Daughter of the US in 2004 and 2006’s “The Status” and “The Illusionist” each introduced a gritty take a look at the world of sensible magic (within the nineteenth century, particularly). As of this writing, the newest “twin movies” we are able to level two are most likely the biopics “Piece by Piece” and “Higher Man,” which each got here out in 2024; each inform tales of actual-life musicians in surprising methods, whether or not Pharrell’s life story is being advised through LEGO animations or Robbie Williams turns into an ape in a biopic that’s, in any other case, utterly easy.
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Anyway, neither “Propel” or “Whalefall” has a launch date simply but, however possibly whale lovers might be gifted an ideal double function at any time when the dual movies do hit theaters.