# Killer Whale (2026 film)
**Killer Whale** is a 2026 survival thriller directed by Jo-Anne Brechin, in which two best friends are trapped in a remote lagoon by an escaped captive orca named Ceto. It stars [Virginia Gardner](https://www.edgepedia.org/virginia-gardner), Mel Jarnson, and [Mitchell Hope](https://www.edgepedia.org/mitchell-hope), was written by Brechin with [Katharine McPhee](https://www.edgepedia.org/katharine-mcphee), and was produced by Jaggi Entertainment for release by Lionsgate on January 16, 2026.[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/killer-whale-43213/) • [2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/killer-whale)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Jo-Anne Brechin, co-written with Katharine McPhee[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/killer-whale-43213/) |
| Main cast | Virginia Gardner (Maddie), Mel Jarnson (Trish), Mitchell Hope (Josh), Isaac Crawley (Chad)[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/killer-whale-43213/) |
| Release | Theatrical and digital in the United States on January 16, 2026; distributed by Lionsgate[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/killer-whale) |
| Format | 89 minutes; thriller/horror; MPAA rating R for violent content, bloody images, language, and brief drug use[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/killer-whale) |
| Production | Jaggi Entertainment; producers Steve Jaggi, Kylie Pascoe, Lionel Hicks; completed in 2025[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/killer-whale-43213/) |
| Reception | Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 21% (5 fresh, 19 rotten of 24 reviews); IMDb 3.6/10 from about 6,100 users[3](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/killer-whale/umc.cmc.21hexfi89jwzisqlrch88sbkj?ctx_agid=793881ec) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33479805/ratings/) |
| Setting | A private lagoon and atoll in Thailand, built as a physical set in Brisbane[5](https://www.theaureview.com/watch/on-set-with-a-killer-whale/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Maddie (Virginia Gardner) is an aspiring concert cellist working at a diner when a robbery kills her boyfriend Chad (Isaac Crawley) and permanently damages her hearing. A year later, her best friend Trish (Mel Jarnson), a PhD student and social media influencer, takes her on a vacation to Thailand, where Maddie's favorite orca, Ceto, is held at a water park. Maddie refuses to buy a ticket that would endorse the whale's captivity, so she, Trish, and an expat named Josh (Mitchell Hope) break into the park to see Ceto. The next day the trio takes a jet ski to a secluded lagoon, where Ceto, secretly released after killing an employee, traps them. With Josh killed and the jet ski sunk, Maddie and Trish are marooned on a rock, hunted by the whale and without food or water.[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/killer-whale-43213/) • [2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/killer-whale)
The film frames Ceto's aggression as revenge for years of mistreatment in captivity, a theme several critics noted the script raises in its first act but does not develop.[6](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3929466/killer-whale-review-recycled-plot-sinks-lionsgates-aquatic-thriller/)
## Production
Screen Australia's catalog lists the film as an Australian feature completed in 2025, produced by Jaggi Entertainment and not funded by Screen Australia.[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/killer-whale-43213/) Shing-Fung Cheung was the director of photography, Ahmad Halimi the editor, and Angela Little the composer.[1](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/killer-whale-43213/)
**The atoll set.** The story's central location, a remote atoll in the Pacific, does not exist, so the production built it in Brisbane. Early in pre-production the filmmakers commissioned a detailed scale model of the atoll that defined its geography, distances, sightlines, and character movement.[5](https://www.theaureview.com/watch/on-set-with-a-killer-whale/) The orca itself was a computer-generated creation; reviewers described Ceto as a rough CG animal, and an orca puppeteer, Chris Bridgewater, is credited.[6](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3929466/killer-whale-review-recycled-plot-sinks-lionsgates-aquatic-thriller/) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33479805/fullcredits/)
## Release and distribution
Killer Whale opened in United States theaters and on digital platforms on January 16, 2026, through Lionsgate.[2](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/killer-whale) It reached the United Kingdom on digital download on May 18, 2026 through Plaion Pictures.[8](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2026/05/killer-whale/) In the United States it later streamed on the MovieSphere+ Amazon Channel, with rentals from $3.99 on Apple TV Store, Amazon Video, and other platforms.[9](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/killer-whale/QvVJKL8V3iO57mjXstrLW4/where-to-watch/) [Availability](https://www.edgepedia.org/availability) varied by region: in Australia it streamed on Netflix, in the United Kingdom on Amazon Prime Video, and in Poland on Player, CANAL+, and Polsat Box Go.[10](https://helposter.com/movie/1412598-1412598-killer-whale) • [11](https://www.justwatch.com/pl/film/killer-whale)
## Reception
The film received broadly negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes it held a 21% Tomatometer, with 5 fresh and 19 rotten reviews out of 24.[3](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/killer-whale/umc.cmc.21hexfi89jwzisqlrch88sbkj?ctx_agid=793881ec) IMDb users gave it 3.6/10 from about 6,100 ratings, with an unweighted mean of 5.6.[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33479805/ratings/) Metacritic listed three critic reviews: Screen Rant at 50, The Guardian at 40, and Polygon at 38.[12](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/killer-whale/critic-reviews/)
**Critical themes.** Reviewers repeatedly compared the film to the survival thrillers *47 Meters Down* and *[Fall](https://www.edgepedia.org/fall-2022-film)*, the latter also starring Virginia Gardner, arguing that Killer Whale follows the same formula of a grieving woman trapped in an inescapable natural location with only the antagonist swapped for an orca.[6](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3929466/killer-whale-review-recycled-plot-sinks-lionsgates-aquatic-thriller/) Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting, rating it 1.5 of 5 skulls, criticized the prolonged first act and the underuse of Ceto as a character, while crediting Gardner and Jarnson with natural performances that sold the friendship.[6](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3929466/killer-whale-review-recycled-plot-sinks-lionsgates-aquatic-thriller/) Catherine Bray of The Guardian wrote that the film works better as a relationship drama between the two stranded friends than as a horror film, hampered by a small cast that limits the number of kills.[13](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/13/killer-whale-review-ocean-peril-horror) Screen Rant's Emedo Ashibeze judged that the film succeeds as a somber meditation on the cruelty of animal captivity but falters as a survival film with too little spectacle or tension.[12](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/killer-whale/critic-reviews/) William Bibbiani of The Wrap was more positive, calling it a well-orchestrated, if very familiar, chiller once the premise begins.[14](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/reviews/killer-whale-review-joanne-brechin/)
The film entered a small field of orca-centered horror: reviewers noted it as the first such theatrical release since the 1977 film *Orca*, and it arrived amid a wider wave of aquatic animal-attack thrillers.[15](https://cdn.wickedhorror.com/horror-reviews/killer-whale-is-the-first-flop-of-2026-review/)
## References
1. [Killer Whale, Screen Australia screen guide](https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/killer-whale-43213/)
2. [Killer Whale parents' guide and movie review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/killer-whale)
3. [Killer Whale, Apple TV (Tomatometer and studio information)](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/killer-whale/umc.cmc.21hexfi89jwzisqlrch88sbkj?ctx_agid=793881ec)
4. [Killer Whale ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33479805/ratings/)
5. [On set with a Killer Whale: visiting the creature feature production in Brisbane, The AU Review](https://www.theaureview.com/watch/on-set-with-a-killer-whale/)
6. ['Killer Whale' Review – Recycled Plot Sinks Horror Thriller, Bloody Disgusting](https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3929466/killer-whale-review-recycled-plot-sinks-lionsgates-aquatic-thriller/)
7. [Killer Whale full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33479805/fullcredits/)
8. [Killer Whale review, Blueprint: Review](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2026/05/killer-whale/)
9. [Killer Whale where to watch, Moviefone](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/killer-whale/QvVJKL8V3iO57mjXstrLW4/where-to-watch/)
10. [Killer Whale where to watch, Helposter](https://helposter.com/movie/1412598-1412598-killer-whale)
11. [Zabójcza orka streaming, JustWatch Poland](https://www.justwatch.com/pl/film/killer-whale)
12. [Killer Whale critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/killer-whale/critic-reviews/)
13. [Killer Whale review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/13/killer-whale-review-ocean-peril-horror)
14. ['Killer Whale' Review: Aquatic Horror-Thriller Serves Its Porpoise, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/reviews/killer-whale-review-joanne-brechin/)
15. ['Killer Whale' is the First Flop of 2026, Wicked Horror](https://cdn.wickedhorror.com/horror-reviews/killer-whale-is-the-first-flop-of-2026-review/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2025–2026 films › Action, spy, and survival thrillers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 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