Whalefall opens on 81 Malaysian cinemas, a day before America

Whalefall gives its hero one hour of oxygen inside a sperm whale, and it reaches Malaysia on Thursday 15 October, a day before its American release. This site's listings have it at 81 cinemas, with 265 sessions on the first day and 1,318 through Tuesday 20 October.

One diver, one whale, one hour

The Star's preview sums it up: a scuba diver, played by Austin Abrams, is swallowed by a sperm whale and has an hour of air to get out alive. Free Malaysia Today adds that it is based on the survival thriller by Daniel Kraus, and that Abrams plays Jay Gardiner, a young man diving off the California coast. GSC's synopsis puts the whale at 80 feet and 60 tons. Brian Duffield directs, and the chains list Josh Brolin and Elisabeth Shue in the cast.

A Disney release with its first figures ahead

The Numbers lists the American opening as 16 October through 20th Century Studios, with South Korea, France, Belgium and Italy from 14 October, so no box office has been reported yet. Screen Daily's UK report of 12 October named Disney's scuba thriller as one of the films exhibitors hope will bring audiences back next weekend.

The chains disagree on what it is

GSC files it under Drama, TGV under Thriller and Horror, and they differ on the running time too, 106 minutes at GSC against 98 at TGV. Both classify it 13, which makes it one of the more accessible of this week's openings: a family with teenagers can go together, where Jailer 2, Street Fighter and The Social Reckoning are 16 and Pemuja Syaitan is 18.

Where to see it

Nine chains carry it. GSC has 631 sessions this week and TGV 413, with Paragon, Mega, AE Cinemas, FST, Grand Cineplex, Amerin and One Cinemas sharing the rest. Kuala Lumpur and Selangor have the most, and Sarawak, with 117, is fourth. A story told mostly in the dark and the deep is one for a big screen and good sound: 30 sessions are in 4DX at five cinemas and 11 in Dolby Atmos.

The cinemas with the most sessions this week are spread across the country: Paragon Alor Star Mall with 32, GSC IOI City Mall in Putrajaya with 31, and GSC Paradigm Mall and GSC Southkey Mall in Johor Bahru with 30 each. On Saturday it is at 80 cinemas.

The Whalefall page lists every cinema and format, and the showtimes page puts each cinema's Whalefall times side by side, each linking to the chain's booking page.