30 Best Shipwreck Movies

We present to your attention 30 movies about shipwrecks. In each movie from this list you will find desperate situations, fear, despair and an inordinate desire to live. Dreadful storms and hurricanes will take a variety of ships to the bottom, condemning their passengers to an agonizing wait for help in the middle of the open ocean.

Life of Pi

• IMDB Rating – 7.9
• Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Adventure
• Production: USA, Taiwan, UK, Mexico, Canada, France, India / 2012
• Budget: $120,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $609,016,565
• Director: Ang Lee
• Starring: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Tandon, Gautam Belur, Adil Hussain, Tabu, Ayaan Khan, Mohd Abbas Khalili, Vibish Shivakumar, Rafe Spall.

P Patel is the son of a zoo owner. Together with his family, the young man lives in India. However, one day his father Santosh decides to leave his homeland. So, in the hope of a better life, the Patel family, taking the menagerie, sits on a ship and goes to Canada. But soon emigration turns into a real tragedy for the heroes.

A storm of unprecedented force takes the ship and the lives of almost all the passengers to the seabed. Only Pi manages to survive during the rampage of nature, but being in a lifeboat, the guy realizes that drifting in the middle of the ocean, hoping for salvation, will be much harder than he thought before. After all, in the boat lurks a very dangerous neighbor – a tiger, who survived the rampage of nature.

The movie is based on the novel of the same name by Canadian writer Jan Martel. The book was released in 2001.

Triangle

• IMDB Rating – 6.9
• Genre: Fantastic, thriller
• Production: UK, Australia / 2009
• Budget: $12,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $1,309,107
• Director Christopher Smith
• Starring: Melissa George, Liam Hemsworth, Michael Dorman, Henry Nixon, Reychal Karpani, Emma Lang, Joshua McIvor, Jack Taylor, Brian Probets.

Jess is raising her autistic son alone. The life of a woman is difficult and filled with a pile of domestic problems. That is why, when friends offer her to distract herself with a little vacation on a yacht, Jess agrees without hesitation.

So, on the appointed day, taking her son to school, the heroine in a hurry goes to the pier to quickly plunge into the atmosphere of carefree and fun. Only a small voyage turns out to be a real nightmare for the company of vacationers.

First, the yacht of heroes, caught in a strong storm, crashes, and after the grief sailors find themselves on an abandoned drifting liner. Everything would be nothing, but there awaits them a ruthless maniac and one very terrible secret.

The abandoned liner, to which the heroes move after their yacht finally goes under water, is named after the demigod who commands the winds. He (the demigod) belongs to Greek mythology and is named Aeolus or Aeolaus. The name of the liner is Aeolus, translated as Aeolus.

The Icebreaker

• IMDB Rating – 6.1
• Genre: Drama
• Production: Russia / 2016
• Budget: $10,000,000
• Worldwide box office receipts: $5,653,694
• Director: Nikolai Khomeriki
• Starring: Peter Fedorov, Sergei Puskepalis, Anna Mikhalkova, Olga Filimonova, Alexander Yatsenko, Alexander Pal, Vitaly Khayev, Alexei Barabash, Dmitry Mulyar, Artur Chirgadze

Spring 1985. The crew of an icebreaker named Mikhail Gromov sets off for a polar station located off the coast of Antarctica. The crew’s task is to pick up a group of polar explorers and set a course for Australia.

Only suddenly a huge iceberg begins to loom over the ship. The sailors manage to avoid a fatal collision, but the ship gets stuck between the ice. Trapped in a natural trap, “Mikhail Gromov” begins to drift helplessly in the frozen ocean.

At first, the ship’s crew calmly awaits rescue, but everything changes when fuel and food supplies begin to run out. A storm of despair falls on the heroes and every day the men become more and more cruel to each other.

The movie is based on real events, but the names of some crew members were changed, as well as the name of the ship. In real life, the ship was not called Mikhail Gromov, but Mikhail Somov.

The Crossing

• IMDB Rating – 6.2
• Genre: History, Drama, Melodrama, Military
• Production: China, USA, Hong Kong / 2014
• Budget: $65,000,000
• Russian box office: $93,692
• Director: John Woo
• Starring: Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Song Hye-gyo, Masami Nagasawa, Huang Xiaoming, Yang Kueimei, Qin Hailu, Tony Yang, Fei Yu, Tong Dawei

China 1949. The country is in the midst of a civil war: brutal and merciless. It claims the lives of many soldiers and destroys the lives of hundreds of civilians. Every day the situation around becomes more and more dangerous, and the civilian population is going to flee from the mainland to the island of Taiwan.

Getting on the ferry is not easy, but the lucky ones who do manage to get on the ship quickly realize that their ordeal is not over. On the way, the ship is wrecked and begins to go underwater. But not everyone manages to get to the lifeboats, so the cold waters take not only the ship, but also the lives of the passengers.

For Hollywood director John Woo, the movie was a great opportunity to visit his homeland – China. The man agreed to work on the project without hesitation. However, the beginning of filming was delayed for several years in a row. The culprit was throat cancer, which suffered from the director.

In 2015, this movie was continued under the title “The Crossing 2”.

In the Heart of the Sea

• IMDB Rating – 6.9
• Genre: Action, Drama, Adventure, Biography, History
• Production: USA, Australia, Spain / 2015
• Budget: $100,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $93,920,758
• Director: Ron Howard
• Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw, Michelle Fairley, Tom Holland, Paul Anderson, Frank Dillane, Joseph Mowle

Whale hunting is a dangerous occupation, but for the sailors of whaling ships it is a familiar and, to some extent, routine job. That’s why, when in 1819 the crew of the ship “Essex” went on a voyage, the men were thinking not about the upcoming difficulties, but about the revenue they would get for the catch.

Only here an unexpected attack of a giant albino sperm whale turns the heroes from brave hunters into defenseless victims. After all, the ship is sunk, and they themselves are forced to drift in the middle of the ocean in lifeboats.

From now on, every minute of the men is filled with the desire to live and hope for rescue, but when help does not come, the starving sailors, in order to survive, decide to take a desperate step – cannibalism.

The movie is based on real events. The ship “Essex” existed in reality. In 1820 it was sunk by an aggressive sperm whale, and the surviving members of the ship’s crew were forced to drift in the open ocean for several months.

Titanic (TV show)

• IMDB Rating – 6.0
• Genre: Drama
• Production: UK, Canada, Hungary / 2012
• Director: John Jones
• Starring: Peter MacDonald, Stephen Waddington, Glen Blackhall, Ruth Bradley, Georgia McCutchen, Antonio Magro, Perdita Weeks, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jenna Coleman, Lynas Roach.

1912. The largest passenger liner called “Titanic” takes on board two thousand passengers from different social strata and sets off on its maiden voyage. The huge ship has a long way to go from the port of the British city of Southampton to New York.

But in reality, unsinkable in appearance, the ship is not as safe as it may seem at the beginning. The unexpected collision of the ship with an iceberg drifting in the middle of the ocean becomes fatal for “Titanic”.

Because of the damage the liner begins to rapidly go underwater, mercilessly taking the lives of hundreds of passengers with it.

In addition to this movie, another mini-series with an identical title premiered in 2012. It tells about the tragedy that happened to the Titanic, but the series was filmed in the documentary genre.

Poseidon

• IMDB Rating – 5.7
• Genre: Action, Thriller, Adventure
• Production: USA / 2006
• Budget: $160,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $181,674,817
• Director: Wolfgang Petersen
• Starring: Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Jacinda Barrett, Richard Dreyfuss, Emmy Rossum, Mia Maestro, Mike Vogel, Kevin Dillon, Freddy Rodriguez, Jimmy Bennett.

New Year’s Eve. Passenger liner “Poseidon” goes out into the open ocean. The people sailing on the ship intend to have a fun holiday on board, but a wave of unprecedented force destroys all the plans of the passengers. The thing is that the raging element easily turns the ship upside down and hundreds of people find themselves in a death trap.

The captain manages to calm the survivors with the news that an SOS signal has already been sent and help is on the way. However, not everyone believes that the rescuers will arrive in time, so a small group of the most desperate passengers decides to find their own way to the surface. Thus, risking their lives, several people set out to explore the destroyed and half-submerged corridors of the liner.

This movie was the third remake of The Prisoners of Poseidon, which was based on Paul Gallico’s 1979 novel Poseidon.

All Is Lost

• IMDB Rating – 6.9
• Genre: Adventure, Drama
• Production: USA / 2013
• Budget: $9,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $13,627,519
• Director: JC Chandor
• Starring: Robert Redford

The film tells the story of an elderly man who travels all alone on his yacht on the Indian Ocean. At first glance, the hero’s voyage can be called paradisiacal. However, everything changes when a storm starts – the hero is shipwrecked and the yacht goes to the bottom.

However, the man is not going to surrender to the mercy of fate – moving into an inflatable boat, he begins to wait patiently for rescue. But soon it becomes clear that waiting for help will be much more difficult than it seemed at first. It is not surprising, because the food and drinking water reserves are negligible, and a pack of hungry sharks swims around.

There are almost no dialogues in the movie, so the text of its script may seem rather short. It could fit into only 32 pages.

The Perfect Storm

• IMDB Rating – 6.4
• Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, Adventure
• Production: USA / 2000
• Budget: $140,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $328,718,434
• Director: Wolfgang Petersen
• Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, Diane Lane, William Fichtner, John Hawkes, Allen Payne, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Karen Allen, Cherry Jones.

The inhabitants of the small harbor town of Gloucester live mainly by fishing. However, sailors do not always manage to return home with a good catch. The fall of 1991 was a bad one. The proceeds from the caught fish could not only bring the crew of the ship “Andre Gale” profit, but also to cover the costs of going to sea.

That’s why the captain of the ship Billy offers the sailors to go on another voyage before winter. So, the fishermen go out into the open ocean again, and this time their catch turns out to be rich. But soon the men realize that the water surface is not going to release neither the gifted booty, nor they themselves on land. One of the most deadly hurricanes, named “Grace”, rises on the ship’s way.

The movie is based on the novel of the same name. It was written by Sebastian Junger and was published in 1997.

The Finest Hours

• IMDB Rating – 6.8
• Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, History
• Production: USA / 2016
• Budget: $80,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $52,099,090
• Director: Craig Gillespie
• Starring: Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Holliday Grainger, John Ortiz, Kyle Gallner, John Magaro, Graham McTavish, Michael Raymond-James

1952. The strongest storm called “Norrister” begins off the coast of America. It does not threaten land with destruction, but a huge oil tanker, which had no time to reach the port, finds itself in a dangerous trap. The crew of the ship faces imminent doom, but a small team of brave men from the Coast Guard decides to take a risk and go out into the raging ocean.

The men want to try to save the crew of the tanker. Heroes, of course, realize that their small outdated vessel is unlikely to be able to return from this operation. However, the determination to fulfill the duty of rescuers becomes stronger than the fear for their own lives and the men still defy the raging elements.

The Sea movie was based on the novel The Selfless Hours, which was based on real events that took place in 1952. The book was written by Michael J. Tagias and Casey Sherman.

Greyhound

• IMDB Rating – 7.0
• Genre: Military, Action, History
• Production: USA, China, Canada / 2020
• Budget: $50,300,000
• Director: Aaron Schneider
• Starring: Tom Hanks, Elisabeth Shue, Stephen Graham, Matt Helm, Craig Tate, Rob Morgan, Travis Quentin, Jeff Burks, Matthew Zook, Joseph Poliquin

1942, World War II is in full swing and the U.S. government decides to send its allies in the anti-Hitler coalition help. So the officer Ernst Krause becomes the commander of the ship “Greyhound” and goes on a dangerous journey across the Atlantic Ocean. The task of the man to deliver the cargo located on his ship to the port of Liverpool.

The mission is quite difficult, because enemy submarines do not slumber. However, air aviation, accompanying the ship to the destination, becomes a powerful defense for the “Greyhound”. But the sector called “Black Pit” turns out to be a no-fly zone for the US planes, and the German subs start their attack.

This movie was filmed aboard two real ships, the USS Kidd and the HMCS Montreal. “Greyhound is one of the best sea battle movies ever made.

K-19: The Widowmaker

• IMDB Rating – 6.7
• Genre: Thriller, Drama, Military, History
• Production: UK, Germany, Canada, USA / 2002
• Budget: $100,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $65,716,126
• Director: Kathryn Bigelow
• Starring: Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Peter Sarsgaard, Sam Sprewell, Tim Woodward, Steve Nicholson, Peter Stebbings, Lex Shrapnel, John Shrapnel, Lev Prygunov

The USSR creates the newest submarine called the K-19. The new war machine is equipped with a nuclear reactor and nuclear weapons. The government realizes that this vessel represents incredible military power, and therefore decides to test the K-19 at the North Pole. So, a man named Alexei Vostrikov, who became the captain of the boat, together with his crew goes to the tests.

The crew manages to reach the destination without problems, but after the launch of ballistic missiles on the ship there is an accident. The cooling system of the nuclear reactor fails. The failure threatens the crew with an imminent explosion, but the heroes are not going to give up. To save their lives, the officers decide to show all their wits.

K-19: The Widowmaker is recognized as one of the best submarine movies ever made.

Underwater

• IMDB Rating – 5.9
• Genre: Horror, Action
• Production: USA / 2019
• Budget: $60,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $40,882,928
• Director: William Eubank
• Starring: Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Mamoudou Athie, TJ Miller, John Gallagher Jr, Jessica Henwick, Gunner Wright, Fiona Renee, Amanda Troup

The events of the movie take place at an underwater station located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The life of people working there seems boring at first glance, but when a powerful underwater earthquake almost destroys the base, everything changes. After all, now, to get to the surface, the survivors will have to get to the backup station.

Everything would be nothing, but to realize their plan the heroes need to go through the sea floor. The team knows that the journey ahead of them will be difficult and dangerous. But when the heroes, dressed in spacesuits, find themselves in the middle of the ocean, they quickly realize that there are many more dangers lurking under the water than they could have imagined.

Shooting in spacesuits actors was quite difficult, because each suit weighed more than 60 kilograms.

Adrift

• IMDB Rating – 6.6
• Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, Melodrama, Adventure, Biography
• Production: USA, Hong Kong, Iceland / 2018
• Budget: $35,000,000
• Worldwide box office: $59,945,012
• Director: Balthasar Kormákur
• Starring: Shailene Woodley, Sam Claflin, Jeffrey Thomas, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Grace Palmer, Tami Ashcraft, Siale Tunoka

A chance meeting between Tami and Richard in Tahiti turns out to be fateful. After all, at first sight the heroes realize that they are made for each other. In order not to waste time, the couple decides to get married and go on a round-the-world voyage. So, very soon the lovers take the yacht of friends and go out into the open ocean.

But the sea voyage turns out to be a real tragedy for them. The thing is that the newlywed spouses get into a terrible storm. The couple manages to survive, but because of the storm Richard is badly injured, and the ship is damaged so badly that it can only drift helplessly. However, Tami is not going to give up in the face of difficulties. She is ready to do anything to win back from fate the right to live for herself and her beloved.

The movie is based on real events. Tami and Richard existed in real life and were actually caught in a storm. However, in real life, Richard did not manage to survive. During the storm, the man’s cable broke and he went missing.

Styx

• IMDB Rating – 6.5
• Genre: Drama
• Production: Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Malta / 2018
• Worldwide box office receipts: $118,188
• Director: Wolfgang Fischer
• Starring: Susanne Wolf, Gedion Odur Wekesa, Kelvin Mutuku Ndinda, Inga Birkenfeld, Alexander Bayer, Dominique Bot, Anika Menger, Mario Mangione

A forty-year-old woman named Ricky decides to take a break from everyday life and goes on a small sea voyage. On her sailboat, the heroine sails along the sea surface, enjoying the silence and solitude. Except that the woman’s peace is broken by a meeting with a drifting ship filled with people.

Riki immediately realizes that the fishing boat, which fell into her field of vision, wrecked, so reporting her discovery to the coast guard, she immediately rushes to help people. However, the rescuers who have received the distress signal strongly advise Riki to stay away from the ship she has found.

In the movie, the main character’s sailboat is named “Asa Gray”. This name is given to the ship in honor of the 19th century American botanist Ace Gray.

The Sinking of the Laconia

• IMDB Rating – 7.0
• Genre: Drama, History
• Production: UK, Germany / 2010
• Director: Uwe Janson
• Starring: Andrew Bakan, Ken Duken, Franca Potente, Thomas Kretschmann, Brian Cox, Lindsay Duncan, Matthias Keberlin, Jakob Machenz, Ludovico Fremont, Frederick Lau.

1942. World War II is in full swing. That is why, when the German submarine U-156 meets a British liner on its way, its captain does not hesitate to give the order to sink the ship. But soon the crew members of U-156, unexpectedly for themselves, discover that the “Laconia” they hit was not carrying soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition, but prisoners.

The Germans realize that they have doomed innocent people to certain death, so the captain of U-156 decides to correct the situation. Having raised the war machine to the surface, the man begins to desperately save people, but it is quite dangerous to do so. After all, the sinking liner can easily drag his submarine to the bottom.

Deepwater Horizon

• IMDB Rating – 7.1
• Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, History
• Production: USA, Hong Kong / 2016
• Budget: $110,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $121,790,373
• Director: Peter Berg
• Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien, Kate Hudson, Ethan Sapley, Henry Frost, Jeremy Sand, Douglas M. Griffin

Mike Williams is an engineer working on an oil platform called the Deepwater Horizon. Going on another three-week shift, the man was expecting a routine job. However, from the very first day, Mike notices that his shifters negligently disregard many safety rules. That’s why the man’s job begins with a full-scale inspection of the station’s key equipment.

The results of the tests are alarming, but his colleagues manage to convince Mike that there is no danger. However, as soon as the man agrees with the arguments of his comrades, his worst fears come true: the drilling well goes out of control and the station is covered with a series of terrible explosions.

The movie is based on real events. The platform “Deepwater Horizon” existed in reality and in 2010 there was a terrible accident. It took the lives of many workers of the oil station and caused a serious environmental disaster, which was caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Kursk

• IMDB Rating – 6.6
• Genre: Thriller, Drama, History
• Production: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Romania, Canada, USA / 2018
• Budget: $20,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $6,821,775
• Director: Thomas Vinterberg
• Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts, Léa Seydoux, Peter Simonischek, August Diehl, Max von Sydow, Colin Firth, Bjarne Henriksen, Magnus Millang, Artemij Spiridonov, Joel Basman

2000. The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sinks to depth with its full crew. The officers’ goal is to conduct routine exercises and return to land, but due to a fatal accident, the submarine is sunk. Having gone to the bottom of the Barents Sea, the submarine becomes a death trap for 118 people.

However, the crew manages to buy some time for their rescue. Having taken refuge in one of the unsubmerged compartments, the men send an emergency distress signal. But the government delays the decision to rescue the crew of the Kursk, and the heroes’ compartment is rapidly running out of air.

This is the first movie in world cinema that tells the story of an accident that happened not on a simple ship, but on a submarine.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

• IMDB Rating – 7.1
• Genre: Adventure, Action, Fantasy
• Production: USA / 2007
• Budget: $300,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $960,996,492
• Director: Gore Verbinski
• Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Tom Hollander, Bill Nye, Stellan Skarsgard, Naomie Harris, Jack Davenport, Chow Yun-Fat.

Jack Sparrow is the captain of a robber ship, but compared to the same famous pirates like himself, the hero’s nature is not so bloodthirsty. After all, the main quality of Jack is not cruelty at all, but cunning and dexterity. However, quite often, the man overestimates his abilities and gets into trouble, which threatens him with all sorts of troubles and even death.

However, thanks to his faithful friends, the pirate always manages to come out victorious from battles with his enemies. That’s why every new Jack’s idea turns out to be more and more dangerous and exciting adventure for him and his loyal companions, which quite often ends with the wreck of the next ship.

At the time filming began, the script for this movie was still in the process of being written.

USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage

• IMDB Rating – 5.3
• Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, Military, History
• Production: USA / 2016
• Budget: $40,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $2,158,568
• Director: Mario Van Peebles
• Starring: Nicolas Cage, Tom Sizemore, Thomas Jane, Matt Lanter, James Rimar, Brian Presley, Yutaka Takeuchi, Johnny Whacktor, Adam Scott Miller, Cody Walker

World War II is coming to an end, but there are still fierce battles between the opposing nations. That’s why when the Japanese submarine “I-58” meets a heavy cruiser called “Indianapolis” its crew makes a lightning-fast decision to attack the ship.

Because of the torpedo strike, which is made by the Japanese submarine, the American ship quickly begins to go underwater and in 12 minutes hundreds of crew members find themselves without a footing. However, this is not the end of people’s trials, because a desperate struggle for life is ahead of them. For four days the heroes will have to fight thirst, hunger and a pack of bloodthirsty sharks.

The movie is based on real events, and some of the actors who starred in this movie are descendants of those who survived the crash of the Indianapolis.

Black Sea

• IMDB Rating – 6.4
• Genre: Thriller, Drama, Adventure
• Production: UK, Russia, USA / 2014
• Worldwide box office receipts: $3,758,103
• Director: Kevin Macdonald
• Starring: Jude Law, Scoot McNary, Ben Mendelsohn, Bobby Schofield, Konstantin Khabensky, Sergei Puskepalis, Michael Smiley, David Threlfall, Grigory Dobrygin, Sergey Veksler

A man named Robinson has served the British Navy for 30 years. However, one day his services become unclaimed for the country, and the hero is left without means of subsistence. Trying to feed himself, Robinson begins to grab any, even the dirtiest and most dangerous work.

That is why, when his acquaintance offers to participate in a risky but very profitable operation, the man agrees without hesitation. So, the hero goes to Georgia to get gold from a German submarine, sunk off the coast of this country during World War II. Only soon Robinson, as well as his associates, realizes: to divide the gold bars among themselves will be much more difficult than to raise them from the bottom.

To get into the role, actor Jude Law, who plays the main character Robinson, lived aboard a real submarine for three days.

White Squall

• IMDB Rating – 6.6
• Genre: Drama, Adventure
• Production: USA, UK / 1995
• Budget: $38,000,000
• US box office receipts: $10,292,300
• Director: Ridley Scott
• Starring: Jeff Bridges, Caroline Goodall, John Savage, Scott Wolfe, Jeremy Sisto, Ryan Phillippe, David Lasher, Eric Michael Cole, Jason Mersden, David Selby.

A group of ocean academy students, under the command of their teacher and captain Christopher Sheldon, go to sea. On a small training vessel called “Albatross” teenagers will have to learn in practice all the basics of yacht management and realize what it is to be in the open ocean. But the carefree journey of the passengers changes dramatically when the “Albatross” gets into a terrible storm.

After all, the huge waves manage not only to shatter the small yacht, but also to take to the bottom of the ocean the lives of several heroes. The surviving passengers are forced to drift helplessly in lifeboats, desperately searching on the horizon for their salvation – a ship that will be able to return them to land.

Actor Scott Wolf, who plays a 15-year-old boy named Charles, was considerably older than his character at the time of filming. In real life, the man was 27 years old.

The Whale

• IMDB Rating – 6.2
• Genre: Drama, Adventure
• Production: UK, USA / 2013
• Budget: £2,213,684
• Director: Olrik Riley
• Starring: Charles Furness, Jolyon Coy, Jassa Ahluwalia, David Gyasi, John Boyega, Ferdinand Kingsley, Paul Kaye, Andre Agius, Jonas Armstrong

1819. The crew of the whaling ship Essex takes to the high seas to fill their ship’s holds with whale oil. However, instead of profit, this hunt brings the men only trouble. The thing is that their ship is being hunted by a huge white whale. The ship’s crew, of course, tries to turn the albino into its prey, but instead of fat, the men get only a shattered ship.

This is the end of the heroes’ hunt, because now the most important thing for them is to survive. So, having placed themselves in lifeboats, sailors begin a desperate struggle for life, which will last for three months. This is how long the whalers will be forced to drift helplessly in the open ocean.

The movie is based on the novel Moby Dick, which was written by Herman Melville in 1851 based on real events that happened to the ship Essex.

The Deep

• IMDB Rating – 6.6
• Genre: Action, Drama
• Production: Iceland / 2012
• Budget: €2,000,000
• Director: Balthasar Kormakur
• Starring: Oulavur Darri Oulafsson, Joi Johannsson, Stefan Hallur Stefansson, Trostur Leo Gunnarsson, Björn Thors, Walter Grimsson, Tora Bjorg Helga, Gudjon Pedersen, Theodore Juliusson, Maria Sigurtardottir.

Spring 1984, snowy Iceland. A small fishing boat goes out to sea to catch fish. However, due to a fatal accident, the fishermen’s ship goes to the bottom, and its crew finds themselves in icy water.

There is no hope for salvation, but the heroes do not despair and still decide to try to swim to shore. But very soon almost all the men, having frozen, go under water. Only one fisherman remains alive – Gudlaugur. Swimming in icy water is incredibly hard for the hero, but despite the wild fatigue, the man is not going to surrender to the mercy of fate.

The movie is based on real events. Morya Gudlaugur Fridorsson existed in real life and, despite being in icy water for a long time, managed to stay alive after a shipwreck.

Stranded

• IMDB Rating – 6.5
• Genre: Drama, Adventure
• Production: USA / 2002
• Director: Charles Beeson
• Starring: Liam Cunningham, Brana Bayich, Roger Allam, Jesse Spencer, Neil Newbon, Andrew Lee Potts, Charlie Lucas, Raidid Lardpanna, Jenna Harrison, Emma Pearson.

It is the beginning of the 19th century, a man named David Robinson is undeservedly sentenced to penal servitude. However, the hero’s family is not going to leave him to his fate. Having gathered four children, David’s wife decides to share with her husband’s hard fate. So, following her husband, the woman sits on the ship, which will have to take their family far from their native places, and enthusiastically begins to prepare for a new life.

Only on the way their ship is wrecked and the Robinson family is carried to the shore of a paradise island. On this piece of land the heroes quickly manage to establish a quiet life. However, a few years later, fate again decides to test the Robinsons’ strength – a group of bloodthirsty pirates lands on their island.

The movie is based on a novel by Johan David Wyss called Swiss Family Robinson.

The Reef

• IMDB Rating – 5.8
• Genre: Horror, Thriller, Drama, Adventure
• Production: Australia / 2010
• Worldwide box office receipts: $57,986
• Director: Andrew Traucki
• Starring: Damien Walsh-Howling, Guyton Grantly, Adrianne Pickering, Zoe Naylor, Kieran Darcy-Smith, Mark Simpson

One day a young guy named Luke is assigned to take away a luxury yacht to its new owner. In order not to sail alone, the hero decides to invite a group of his friends on board. So, a small sea voyage turns into a real vacation. After all, while the yacht is moving on a set course, Luke and his friends have fun.

But everything changes when the ship hits a sharp reef and damages the bottom. Because of the hole the ship does not go down, but becomes a dangerous trap for the heroes. A great white shark decides to turn the submerged ship into his personal feeding ground.

The original title of this movie is “The Reef”.

U-571

• IMDB Rating – 6.6
• Genre: Action, Military
• Production: USA, France / 2000
• Budget: $62,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $127,666,415
• Director: Jonathan Mostow
• Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi, David Keith, Thomas Kretschmann, Jake Weber, Jack Noseworthy, Tom Geary, Will Estes.

1942. German U-boats scour the Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to take full control of its territories. At first glance, this task seems impossible. However, the regular sinking of American ships convinces the U.S. government otherwise.

The reason for everything becomes a cipher, with the help of which are encoded, sent by German submarines, signals. It turns out to be so unique that it cannot be cracked. That is why the American Navy decides to capture one of the German submarines and get a secret cipher machine called “Enigma”. The Americans choose the German submarine U-571 as the target for the capture.

The Enigma cipher machine shown in the movie is not a copy, but an authentic copy. The filmmakers rented it from a private collector for the duration of the movie.

Titanic

• IMDB Rating – 7.8
• Genre: Melodrama, History, Thriller, Drama
• Production: USA, Mexico, Australia / 1997
• Budget: $200,000,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $1,843,478,449
• Director: James Cameron
• Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Bernard Hill, David Warner, Victor Garber.

The Titanic held about two thousand passengers. Not only rich people but also ordinary people gathered on board, among whom was Jack. The poor gambler got a ticket to the ferry with the help of cards, but it brought him not an ordinary sea voyage, but a bright love, which ended with the tragic wreck of the ship.

Beggar Jack and rich heiress Rose fall in love with each other at first sight, but realize that they have no common future. However, this does not prevent the development of their stormy romance. The tender relationship will have to end immediately, after their ship arrives in an American port. But the iceberg, which stands in the way of the ship, separates the lovers much earlier.

At the global box office, the movie collected a colossal amount. With a budget of 200 million dollars, the box office receipts of the film amounted to almost two billion dollars.

The Abyss

• IMDB Rating – 7.5
• Genre: Fantasy, Thriller, Drama
• Production: USA / 1989
• Budget: $69,500,000
• Worldwide Box Office: $89,761,361
• Director: James Cameron
• Starring: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Bean, Leo Burmester, Todd Graff, John Bedford Lloyd, J.C. Quinn, Kimberly Scott, Captain Kidd Brewer Jr.

America’s nuclear submarine, the Montana, is equipped with the latest equipment. To test the submarine’s capabilities, it is lowered to depth, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the submarine sinks. Thus, the military is faced with the need to neutralize the nuclear warheads installed on the boat.

To perform this operation, the Americans send a group of divers to the submarine. However, at depth the heroes meet a new kind of life. At first, the luminous creatures delight them and seem friendly. But soon the divers realize that the sea creatures found at the bottom are not as hospitable as they seemed at the beginning.

The tagline of this movie sounds rather cryptic “Deep under the sea there is a place no one has ever dreamed of…”

Dead Calm

• IMDB Rating – 6.8
• Genre: Thriller, Drama
• Production: Australia / 1988
• Budget: $10,400,000
• US box office: $7,825,009
• Director: Phillip Noyce
• Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, Billy Zane, Rod Mulinar, Joshua Tilden, George Shevtsov, Michael Long, Lisa Collins, Paula Hudson-Brinkley, Sharon Cook

One day a woman named Ray gets into a terrible car accident. The heroine manages to survive, but her son dies. This terrible tragedy becomes for Rae, as well as for her husband, a strong blow. Heroes, of course, are trying to cope with grief, but it turns out badly.

That is why one day the couple decides to go on a secluded voyage. On a small yacht, the spouses go out into the open ocean to try to forget about their pain in peace and quiet. However, the sea voyage turns out to be a new challenge for the couple. At sea, the heroes stumble upon a wrecked yacht, on board of which lurks something terrible.

The movie is based on the novel of the same name by Charles Williams.