The 1975 Steven Spielberg classic “Jaws” famously made several generations of people afraid of the ocean.
Now, in 2026, it looks like the upcoming movie “Whalefall” is here to kickstart a whole new bunch of people who will stick to the sand next time they hit the beach.
The film is based on Daniel Kraus’ 2023 book of the same name, and while there’s a lot of depth to the story, it’s the boiled-down premise that is going to put butts in seats: man gets swallowed by a sperm whale while scuba diving.
I mean, yeah, the Bible already did it, but I’m intrigued.
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And it’s hard not to be intrigued by the trailer that 20th Century Studios just put out because it doesn’t pull any punches and shows you what everyone wants to see, and that’s star Austin Abrams doing his best impression of chum.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
Now, I’m a big sperm whale guy. I think they’re so cool. They overcame a name that will make any middle schooler chuckle to become one of nature’s most underappreciated badasses.
Moby-Dick? He was a sperm whale, and he drove a one-legged sea captain to the point of madness.
That’s awesome.
And you know what’s cooler than that? Real sperm whales cruise around in the ocean going to war with giant squid. Why? I really have no idea, but for some reason sperm whales and giant squids are like the Hatfields and McCoys of the ocean.
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But imagine coming face to face with one in the open ocean as you saw in that trailer, and then getting swallowed by it.
That would be the worst. Your fear of the ocean would go away — which is nice — but it would be quickly replaced with claustrophobia, because the inside of a whale isn’t exactly roomy.
That’s bad.
I think I’m sold. I’ll probably be venturing out to see this one — which also stars Josh Brolin — when it comes out Oct. 16.
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