Black Tides: John Travolta will try to survive orca attacks in Renny Harlin’s upcoming killer whale movie

Renny Harlin amped up the shark attack genre with the medically altered Great Whites in Deep Blue Sea. Now, the veteran action director behind such films as Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger and the immensely underrated The Long Kiss Goodnight, will be returning to killer oceanic creatures with killer whales in the survival thriller Black Tides. Deadline reports on the project that is now set to star John Travolta. The creature feature is written by Chris Sparling (Buried) and Ángel Agudo (Prime Video’s Apocalypse Z) and will be produced by Adrián Guerra and Nuria Valls’s Nostromo Pictures (Buried).

The film will tell the story of Rebecca, who reunites with her estranged father, Bill, in sunny Málaga expecting a healing family trip with her young son, Sebastian. Instead, their voyage across the Strait of Gibraltar becomes a nightmare as they’re relentlessly attacked by rogue orcas. Rebecca, confronting deep emotional wounds, must rise as an unlikely hero in a battle for survival. As the Cannes market will commence this year, Black Tides will be one of the titles shopped around as The Solution Entertainment Group is handling global sales, but will exclude Spain. Production on the film is scheduled to start at the end of the summer. It is also being touted as a movie that will be “shot old-school, with in-camera effects and real water work.”

Harlin stated, “John Travolta brings the perfect combination of grit, depth, vulnerability and charisma to the character of Bill Pierce, the estranged father, that achingly captures the tragedies of family dynamics. I can’t wait to show fans of big screen cinema how his movie star presence and physicality will add gravity to the epic action sequences and deeply emotional personal drama. As a director, I consider myself fortunate to join a list of acclaimed filmmakers who’ve had the privilege of getting to know John as an artist and a person.”

Producer Adrián Guerra added, “You build a film like this around very few people. John’s one of them. He brings the history, the craft, and the instinct that lets a character land in a way that lasts.”

Harlin provided the following statement: “This film grabs you by the throat and the heart. I’m going back to the kind of filmmaking I love—intense, physical, and immersive. This one is built for the big screen.” Guerra added, “We’re going back to what makes thrillers unforgettable—precision filmmaking, real tension, and emotional weight. Every shot is designed to build pressure, every choice anchored in character. Shot in real conditions, this is a physical, immersive experience made for the cinema. It doesn’t just entertain—it holds you in its grip.“

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