# 47 Meters Down (film series)
**47 Meters Down** is a shark thriller film series begun with *47 Meters Down* (2017), directed by Johannes Roberts, about divers trapped underwater with great white sharks. The franchise comprises the 2017 original, its 2019 standalone sequel *[47 Meters Down: Uncaged](https://www.edgepedia.org/47-meters-down-uncaged)*, and a third installment, *[47 Meters Down: The Wreck](https://www.edgepedia.org/47-meters-down-the-wreck)*, which had completed production but awaited a release date as of October 2026.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First film | *47 Meters Down*, released May 26, 2017, directed by Johannes Roberts, starring Mandy Moore, Claire Holt, and Matthew Modine; 89 minutes[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/47-Meters-Down) • [2](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/331173/en/interview/389986/) |
| Premise | Two sisters on vacation in Mexico go cage diving with great white sharks; the cage breaks from the boat and sinks to the seabed with a dwindling oxygen supply[3](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/movies/6-intense-underwater-thrillers-to-watch-this-weekend-including-an-80s-classic-from-james-cameron) |
| Box office, first film | $5,300,000 production budget; $11,205,562 opening weekend; $44,307,193 domestic and $62,633,705 worldwide gross[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/47-Meters-Down) |
| Sequel | *47 Meters Down: Uncaged*, released August 15, 2019, a standalone story set in a submerged Mayan city; $12,000,000 budget, $22,260,900 domestic, $47,582,563 worldwide[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/47-Meters-Down) • [4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/13/47-metres-down-uncaged-review-shark-horror) |
| Franchise total | Over $110 million grossed globally, per the producer's announcement of the third film[5](https://0e190a550a8c4c8c4b93-fcd009c875a5577fd4fe2f5b7e3bf4eb.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/EINPresswire-709493492-allen-media-group-motion-pictures-announces-new-shark-sequel-47-meters-down-the-wreck-2.pdf) |
| Third film | *47 Meters Down: The Wreck*, directed by Patrick Lussier, written by Ernest Riera and Johannes Roberts; completed production, rated PG-13, release date to be announced[5](https://0e190a550a8c4c8c4b93-fcd009c875a5577fd4fe2f5b7e3bf4eb.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/EINPresswire-709493492-allen-media-group-motion-pictures-announces-new-shark-sequel-47-meters-down-the-wreck-2.pdf) • [6](https://www.movieinsider.com/m22900/47-meters-down-the-wreck) |
## The first film
*47 Meters Down* follows sisters Lisa ([Mandy Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/mandy-moore)) and Kate ([Claire Holt](https://www.edgepedia.org/claire-holt)) on vacation in Mexico, where they are persuaded to go cage diving with great white sharks from a boat captained by Taylor ([Matthew Modine](https://www.edgepedia.org/matthew-modine)). When the wire connecting the cage to the vessel becomes loose, the two amateur divers sink to the seabed, trapped with a limited oxygen supply and sharks circling.[7](https://kfd.kinepolis.be/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/47-METERS-DOWN-PRODUCTION-NOTES_AMENDED.pdf) Moore and Holt spent 95 percent of production underwater, and the film reached theaters more than two years after it was shot.[8](https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jun/15/kt.pdf)
Roberts has said that he and co-writer Ernest Riera originally struggled with a script featuring four or five people in the cage, which kept becoming a body-count movie; they reduced the story to the two sisters, an intimacy he traced to the mountaineering film *Touching the Void*.[9](https://www.mandatory.com/culture/1281069-interview-johannes-roberts-47-meters-ending)
**An unlikely release.** The film's path to theaters was convoluted. Completed as *47 Meters Down*, it was retitled *In the Deep* and shipped to stores on DVD in August 2016 under its original distributor, with [Dimension Films](https://www.edgepedia.org/dimension-films) involved. Entertainment Studios founder [Byron Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/byron-allen) then bought the film, reinstated the title *47 Meters Down*, and gave it a wide theatrical release in 2017; some retail copies of the *In the Deep* DVD had already sold and leaked online before they could be recalled.[10](https://filmmakermagazine.com/103743-poisonous-seaweed-meddling-weinsteins-and-the-stench-of-broccoli-johannes-roberts-on-47-meters-down/) The gamble paid off: the $5 million film grossed $62 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful independent releases of 2017.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/13/47-metres-down-uncaged-review-shark-horror) Critics split between criticism of its scripting and third-act twist and praise for it as effective, claustrophobic summer entertainment.[3](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/movies/6-intense-underwater-thrillers-to-watch-this-weekend-including-an-80s-classic-from-james-cameron) • [11](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/thriller-movies/best-shark-movies/)
## Uncaged (2019)
The commercial success of the first film prompted a sequel. Roberts returned as director and co-writer, with a modestly larger budget of $12 million, but *47 Meters Down: Uncaged* abandons the original's characters and story entirely: it follows four teenage girls who secretly scuba-dive into a submerged Mayan city in the Yucatan and become trapped as sharks circle the ruins.[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/47-Meters-Down) • [4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/13/47-metres-down-uncaged-review-shark-horror) • [12](https://www.avclub.com/the-twist-is-better-but-the-shark-action-isn-t-in-47-1837210179) The cast included [Sophie Nélisse](https://www.edgepedia.org/sophie-nelisse), Corinne Foxx, Sistine Stallone, and Brianne Tju, with [John Corbett](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-corbett) and [Nia Long](https://www.edgepedia.org/nia-long) in supporting roles.[12](https://www.avclub.com/the-twist-is-better-but-the-shark-action-isn-t-in-47-1837210179) • [5](https://0e190a550a8c4c8c4b93-fcd009c875a5577fd4fe2f5b7e3bf4eb.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/EINPresswire-709493492-allen-media-group-motion-pictures-announces-new-shark-sequel-47-meters-down-the-wreck-2.pdf)
Released on August 15, 2019, it opened to $8,427,265 in the United States and grossed $22,260,900 domestically and $47,582,563 worldwide.[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/47-Meters-Down) Reviewers again divided: the Guardian found it a brisk, brutal thriller better than it needed to be, while the A.V. Club called it an underwater rehash of *The Descent* and the [South China Morning Post](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-china-morning-post) faulted its interchangeable characters.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/13/47-metres-down-uncaged-review-shark-horror) • [12](https://www.avclub.com/the-twist-is-better-but-the-shark-action-isn-t-in-47-1837210179) • [13](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3031936/47-meters-down-uncaged-film-review-shark-thriller-sequel) Roberts acknowledged the film's liberties with realism, including its depiction of blind cave sharks, in an interview after release.[14](https://bloody-disgusting.com/interviews/3578427/johannes-roberts-addresses-inaccuracies-47-meters-uncaged-spoilers/)
## The Wreck
In May 2024, Allen Media Group Motion Pictures and [Tea Shop Productions](https://www.edgepedia.org/tea-shop-productions) announced the third installment, *47 Meters Down: The Wreck*, with worldwide sales by [FilmNation Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/filmnation-entertainment) launching at the Cannes Film Market. Series creator Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera, who wrote the first two films, co-wrote the screenplay, and veteran horror director Patrick Lussier (*[My Bloody Valentine](https://www.edgepedia.org/my-bloody-valentine-2009-film)*, *Drive Angry*) was attached to direct; the story follows a father and his daughter diving to a famous shipwreck who are left alone inside the wreck after their master diver has an accident.[5](https://0e190a550a8c4c8c4b93-fcd009c875a5577fd4fe2f5b7e3bf4eb.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/EINPresswire-709493492-allen-media-group-motion-pictures-announces-new-shark-sequel-47-meters-down-the-wreck-2.pdf) Shooting was scheduled for September 2024 in London and Los Angeles, and by October 2026 the film had completed production with a PG-13 rating for violent content, bloody images, peril, some strong language, and smoking; a release date had not been announced.[6](https://www.movieinsider.com/m22900/47-meters-down-the-wreck) • [15](https://www.productionlist.com/production/47-meters-wreck)
## Place in shark cinema
Alongside *The Shallows* and *Open Water*, the *47 Meters Down* films have helped redefine the parameters of the shark thriller: over the past decade the genre has tended toward either a small group of characters, usually women, confronting sharks as a trial of survival, or deliberately absurd *Sharknado*-style creature features.[16](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/28/shark-week-movies) Commentators have also noted the films' dive-science liberties, from equalization at depth to [nitrogen narcosis](https://www.edgepedia.org/nitrogen-narcosis), as part of their B-movie appeal rather than realistic diving portrayals.[17](https://www.discovermagazine.com/forget-the-sharks-how-47-meters-down-fails-dive-science-152)
## References
1. [Box Office History for 47 Meters Down Movies, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/47-Meters-Down)
2. [47 METERS DOWN, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/331173/en/interview/389986/)
3. [6 intense underwater thrillers to watch this weekend, Tom's Guide](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/movies/6-intense-underwater-thrillers-to-watch-this-weekend-including-an-80s-classic-from-james-cameron)
4. [47 Meters Down: Uncaged review – shark horror sequel has teeth, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/13/47-metres-down-uncaged-review-shark-horror)
5. [Allen Media Group Motion Pictures Announces New Shark Sequel 47 Meters Down: The Wreck (press release PDF)](https://0e190a550a8c4c8c4b93-fcd009c875a5577fd4fe2f5b7e3bf4eb.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/EINPresswire-709493492-allen-media-group-motion-pictures-announces-new-shark-sequel-47-meters-down-the-wreck-2.pdf)
6. [Everything You Need to Know About 47 Meters Down: The Wreck, Movie Insider](https://www.movieinsider.com/m22900/47-meters-down-the-wreck)
7. [47 METERS DOWN Production Notes (PDF), Kinepolis](https://kfd.kinepolis.be/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/47-METERS-DOWN-PRODUCTION-NOTES_AMENDED.pdf)
8. [Kuwait Times, June 15, 2017 (PDF)](https://kuwaittimes.com/uploads/imported_images/pdf/2017/jun/15/kt.pdf)
9. [Interview: Johannes Roberts and That '47 Meters Down' Ending, Mandatory](https://www.mandatory.com/culture/1281069-interview-johannes-roberts-47-meters-ending)
10. [Poisonous Seaweed, Meddling Weinsteins and the Stench of Broccoli: Johannes Roberts on 47 Meters Down, Filmmaker Magazine](https://filmmakermagazine.com/103743-poisonous-seaweed-meddling-weinsteins-and-the-stench-of-broccoli-johannes-roberts-on-47-meters-down/)
11. [The 10 best shark movies to bite into this summer, GamesRadar](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/thriller-movies/best-shark-movies/)
12. [The twist is better, but the shark action isn't, in 47 Meters Down sequel Uncaged, The A.V. Club](https://www.avclub.com/the-twist-is-better-but-the-shark-action-isn-t-in-47-1837210179)
13. [47 Meters Down: Uncaged film review, South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3031936/47-meters-down-uncaged-film-review-shark-thriller-sequel)
14. [Johannes Roberts Addresses the Inaccuracies of '47 Meters Down: Uncaged', Bloody Disgusting](https://bloody-disgusting.com/interviews/3578427/johannes-roberts-addresses-inaccuracies-47-meters-uncaged-spoilers/)
15. [47 Meters Down: The Wreck, Production List](https://www.productionlist.com/production/47-meters-wreck)
16. [Just when you thought it was safe … the shark movie is back for more, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/28/shark-week-movies)
17. [Forget The Sharks: How '47 Meters Down' Fails Dive Science, Discover Magazine](https://www.discovermagazine.com/forget-the-sharks-how-47-meters-down-fails-dive-science-152)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Fictional worlds and series reference apparatus › Adaptation chains, spin-offs, and series awards › Spin-off as a media concept*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license