It’s summer and you’re planning to go swimming? The perfect time to discover the 3 best shark films according to AlloCiné internet users.
While Jason Statham faces formidable megalodons in In Very Troubled Waters, currently in theaters, we invite you to discover the 3 best shark films according to AlloCiné viewer ratings.
1 – JAWS (1975) – 4/5 stars
Unsurprisingly, Steven Spielberg’s cult film, Jaws, topped the podium with an average rating of 4/5 stars for 34,542 ratings.
Released in 1975, the feature film which sees the small seaside resort of Amity plagued by shark attacks the day before the opening of the summer season was a huge success at the American box office.
In three months of operation, Jaws has totaled more than 67 million admissions in the United States, thus dethroning The Godfather at the head of the biggest cinematographic successes. He held this position until 1977 and popularized the concept of the summer blockbuster.
Indeed, it was following the success of Steven Spielberg’s feature film worn by Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss that the studios began to release their blockbuster films during the summer.
With a shoestring budget of $7 million, the film that launched the shark movie subgenre has grossed $476 million at the international box office.
Copied but never equaled, the feature film will have several sequels: Jaws 2 directed by Jeannot Szwarc, Jaws 3 by Joe Alves (1983) and Jaws 4: Revenge directed by Joseph Sargent ( 1987).
But the success will never equal that of Spielberg’s film. Roy Scheider will only resume his role as Martin Brody in the second opus.
2 – CODE NAME: SHARK (1991) – 3.4/5 stars
The second film in this ranking is more surprising. It is indeed Robert Iscove’s TV movie, Code Name: Shark, released in 1991, rated 3.4/5 stars.
The feature film tells the true story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. The crew, made up of Stacy Keach, Richard Thomas, Steve Landesberg and David Caruso (who didn’t yet have his Expert sunglasses), fight with all their might not to be devoured by sharks.
Shark quiz: what movie is behind this pitch?
The TV movie traces the sinking of the US Navy cruiser USS Indianapolis during World War II. The ship’s mission was to transport key components of the atomic bomb, which was to be dropped on Hiroshima, to the island of Tinian in the Pacific.
After delivering the top-secret cargo, the ship was en route to the Philippines when it was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine, I-58, on July 30, 1945.
The 1197 men were ordered to leave the ship and despite the SOS no ship came to recover the survivors. But many sharks, attracted by the smell of blood, arrive and catch the survivors who try to form circles of defense and hit the sharks in order to disorient them.
Four days after the sinking, the survivors are spotted by a patrol plane. Only 56 men could be saved.
Before the release of Code name: sharksthis story had already been mentioned in Jaws. Robert Shawwho plays Quint in Spielberg’s film, says he is a former crew member of the USS Indianapolis and recounts his experience.
In 2016, Mario Van Peebles directed the film USS Indianapolis with Nicolas Cage in the lead role of Captain McVay.
3 – SURVIVAL INSTINCT – THE SHALLOWS (2016) – 2.9/5 stars
With an average rating of 2.9/5 stars for 5155 ratings, Survival Instinct – The Shallows by Jaume Collet-Serra ranks third among your favorite shark movies.
Carried by Blake Lively, the film follows Nancy, a young woman who surfs alone on an isolated beach when she is attacked by a great white shark. She takes refuge on a rock, out of reach of the shark. She has less than 200 meters to swim to be saved, but getting back to the mainland will be the deadliest fight…
With its breathless suspense, the film by Jaume Collet-Serra, to whom we owe the horrific Esther and the thrillers with Liam Neeson, Without identity, Non-Stop and Night Run, took in 119 million dollars at the box office international (for a budget of $17 million).
Shot on the small island of Lord Howe, located nearly 800 km off Sydney and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Survival Instinct required intense preparation for Blake Lively who had given birth 10 months before filming.
In order to “sculpt” the right body to embody this young woman adept at surfing, the actress engaged in intense preparation with fitness trainer Don Saladino.
A film that you mostly judge “credible“, “thrilling” And “effective“. It must be said that if the great white shark that we see in the film was entirely created by computer, the actress drew on her experience since she had already dived with great white sharks in 2010 for an association of defense of sharks.
If this ranking made you want to attend a new human vs shark fight, In Very Troubled Waters with Jason Statham is currently in theaters. Released in 2018, the previous part rated 2.5 / 5 stars on AlloCiné is visible on Netflix.
(Re)see our Top 5 Shark Nanars