The Shallows gets a Chinese remake with a sci-fi twist (2025)

Last year, the 1997 “nature run amok” thriller Anaconda got a Chinese remake that pit a group of circus performers against a giant snake. The year before that, the Syfy creature feature Sharktopus got a Chinese remake. And this year, it’s the shark thriller The Shallows‘ turn to get the Chinese remake treatment… and this one gives the concept a sci-fi twist. You can watch the trailer in the embed above.

Released in 2016, the original The Shallows was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from a screenplay written by Anthony Jaswinski and starred Blake Lively as a young woman who is dealing with the recent death of her mother. While surfing on an isolated beach, she gets stranded 20 yards off shore on a buoy. What lies between her and the shore is a huge great white shark. Other actors appear in the movie – Ava Dean, Óscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen, Sedona Legge, Pablo Calva, Janelle Bailey, Chelsea Moody, Angelo Josue Lozano Corzo, Joseph Salas, Diego Espejel – but for the most part, The Shallows was a one-woman show, focused on Lively’s solo struggle to get away from the shark… or kill it.

Directed by Banchang Xia (Dune Devils), the remake stars Xiaoyun Chen (Missing Persons), Sinan Li (Ni Jiu Zai Wo Shen Bian), Sen Wang (Novoland: Pearl Eclipse), and Peng Bi Yao (Medical Examiner Dr. Qin: Blood Red Wedding).

There’s not a lot of information available of the Chinese remake of The Shallows, but our friends at Bloody Disgusting point out that the folks at The Arty Dans have already watched and reviewed the film, sharing the following snippet: “Like the Chinese remake ofSharktopusthat used the creature and military weapon concept but created an original story, this movie does the same – keeping the elements of the shark and the survival component but adding in a sci-fi twist about Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. … Clocking in at 73 minutes, there is entertainment a-plenty in this title, with a rather bloodthirsty opening 20 or so minutes as our doctor is repeatedly killed by the shark. The movie gets a little philosophical towards the middle, well about as philosophical as a Chinese web movie could get, which makes for a rather drab middle third, but picks up the pace when the shark is re-introduced into the movie.“

Are you interested in seeing a Chinese remake of The Shallows that gives the concept a sci-fi twist? Let us know by leaving a comment below.