Netflix's Stellar 86-Minute Action Thriller Captures the 'Jaws' Formula

Published Aug 31, 2026, 5:33 AM EDT Charlie Ridgely is a writer from Maryland, currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee. He may be new to Collider, but he's been writing, editing, conducting interviews, and podcasting around the industry for 10 years. From 2016 to the start of 2026, Charlie was a full time writer and critic at ComicBook.com. A lifelong movie fan, avid reader, and renowned (fictional) dungeon explorer/dragonslayer, Charlie is a jack-of-all-trades throughout the fandom multiverse and has covered everything under the sun. Shark movies are kind of like dinosaur movies, in that both only have one film that stands out amongst the crowd, while all the others fight for a very distant second place. The dinosaurs have Jurassic Park. Sharks have Jaws. Steven Spielberg is the undisputed king of both subgenres and that's all there is to it. But what about those distant second-place contenders? Spielberg would probably fall into that slot as well on the dinosaur side of things, but it's a nasty little thriller from Jaume Collett-Serra that has the strongest shot at runner-up when it comes to shark cinema. Back in 2016, Collet-Serra teamed up with Blake Lively on The Shallows, the most thrilling shark thriller since a great white hunted the residents of Amity Island. It has a much smaller scale than Jaws, but The Shallows actually manages to elicit similar feelings of panic and terror. It's also got a mean streak that can't be denied. Fans of Jaws definitely need to check it out and, thanks to Netflix, it's as readily available as ever. 'The Shallows' on Netflix Image via Sony Now is a great time to try and sit down with The Shallows if you haven't already — or to put in a rewatch if you're already a fan. The Shallows was recently added to the Netflix library, making it more accessible than it has been for quite a while. Not only that, but The Shallows is about to be joined by that other incredible shark movie we talked about. Netflix has confirmed that, on September 1st, all four films in the Jaws franchise are going to be added to the streamer's lineup for subscribers to enjoy. The sequels aren't really anything to write home about, but they're still some fun shark movies, which is something we need a lot more of. Jaws and The Shallows would make a fantastic double-feature, and Netflix is about to give fans the opportunity to do just that. What Is 'The Shallows' About? The Shallows, unlike most other movies, is essentially a one-person show. Almost the entirety of The Shallows features Blake Lively's character, Nancy, trying to survive a shark attack. She ends up trapped by a shark a few hundred feet from the coastline, but the shark does everything in question to keep her from making it to her destination. The beast is set on getting a good meal, while Nancy is doing everything she can (and then some) to survive. The film perfectly captures the same "human vs. nature" element that Jaws perfected back in 1975, though The Shallows keeps things a lot simpler. Instead of an entire town trying to fight back against a man-eater that has plagued their beaches, this is simply one young woman against a single shark. She seems to be outmatched in every way, but Nancy's encounters show time after time how resilient the human spirit can be. While it isn't an all-time great like Jaws, The Shallows was able to capitalize on being the premier, non-Jaws shark movie when it was released a decade ago. The movie made $119 million at the global box office, against an estimated budget of roughly $15 million. It was a huge success for Sony Pictures, and it gave fans of animal attack movies the survival thrill they'd been waiting years to see. Release Date June 24, 2016 Runtime 86 minutes Director Jaume Collet-Serra Writers Anthony Jaswinski Producers Lynn Harris