Josh Brolin's New Survival Thriller Earns Stellar Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score

Published Oct 17, 2026, 11:06 AM EDT

Fariba Rezwan is a Lead Editor for the Movie News team. She has been with ScreenRant for nearly five years, with roles ranging from list editor to junior news editor. 

During that time, Fariba has led coverage for breaking movies and TV news, including Hunger Games, Marvel, and streaming. Additionally, she has actively provided commentary and reactions to the biggest movies and shows on her YouTube channel, The Movieception Show. 

Josh Brolin's new survival thriller echoes with audiences.

The veteran actor reunites with Weapons co-star Austin Abrams in Whalefall. Abrams portrays Jay Gardiner, who's out in the ocean to find his father's remains, only to be swallowed up by a killer whale, leaving him less than an hour to escape. Meanwhile, Brolin plays his deceased father, as the thriller reflects on their tumultuous relationship. After the intense trailer built hype, reviews of Whalefall leaned positive, with a solid 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Now that the thriller is in theaters, moviegoers have the final say.

With over 100 reviews, Whalefall has earned a solid 82% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, setting a few records, including director Brian Duffield's second-best after Love and Monsters (89%). The positive reception also gives Abrams a clean slate this year after a back-to-back near-solo-leading performance. He recently starred as the main protagonist, Bryan, in Resident Evil, which also received strong critical and audience reception. Right now, Whalefall is Abrams' fourth-highest audience score behind The Starling Girl (96%), Resident Evil (90%), and Weapons (85%).

Choose the movie with the higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Critics and audiences generally praised the survival thriller for its claustrophobic, intense action, complemented by tight, gross spectacle. The movie also delivers on the high-concept premise, amplified by Abrams' grounded performance. Although critics were split on the father-son arc as a soap-opera and on whether the flashback mellows the movie's intensity, moviegoers seem to react more favorably to the subplot.

Brolin started the 2026 slate with a rough start, starring in Ridley Scott's new sci-fi movie The Dog Stars, which polarized critics. Audiences responded more positively, but it didn't perform well commercially, grossing just $39 million against a $70-110 million budget. He will have one more release, reprising Guerney in Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Three this December.

With positive critical and audience reception, Whalefall is expected to perform moderately at the box office. Some outlets and film pundits project that the new survival thriller will gross $10 million to $12 million dollars, just behind another new release, Street Fighter.

Although Whalefall mostly features Abrams and Brolin, the supporting cast includes Elizabeth Shue, Jane Levy, John Ortiz, and Emily Rudd. Duffield also co-wrote the screenplay with Daniel Kraus, who also wrote the original 2023 novel. The thriller book landed on many best lists, including the New York Times' Best Thrillers of 2023.

Whalefall is now in theaters.

Cast

• 

  Austin Abrams

  Jay Gardiner

• 

  Mitt Gardiner

• 

  Zara Gardiner

• 

  Jane Levy

  Eva Gardiner