Above the Below will look quite familiar to fans of the hit survival video game Subnautica. After all, they share the very similar premise of “Survivor(s) crashlands in ocean from space”. All featuring Idris Elba as the director alongside Martin Owen, with Elizabeth Morris, Matt Mitchell, Vicki Sargen all collectively working on the screenplay. In fact, Idris Elba stars in the movie as Jackson, alongside Caitlin FitzGerald as Brooks and Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Rhodes. It’s a small cast for a very high-stakes sci-fi thriller movie, but what does it actually look like? Well, as you can tell by the title, we just got our first look into it.
Lionsgate is proud to present for us a brand new official trailer for their upcoming sci-fi survival-thriller movie Above the Below. Said trailer also reveals at the very end that we’ll finally get to see this movie in theaters on December 4, 2026. Oh, and that the movie is rated R too…apparently only for “Language”? A bit odd, but we’ll take it. Lionsgate also has an official poster to go with the trailer, as you might expect.
Now as for that official trailer? Well, you can watch it either on YouTube, or just look below for that and the new poster:
Above the Below (2026) Official Trailer – Idris Elba, Caitlin FitzGerald, Hero Fiennes Tiffin
Synopsis:
After three astronauts survive a disaster in space, their unscheduled crash-landing leaves them trapped in the crushing depths of the ocean with no contact with mission control and oxygen rapidly running out. In a race against time where every breath could be their last, the crew faces impossible choices, mounting odds, and new dangers in this pulse-pounding story about what we do when faced with the greatest stakes imaginable. Idris Elba co-directs with Martin Owen and stars in this survival-thriller alongside Caitlin FitzGerald and Hero Fiennes Tiffin.
Above the Below Looks an Awful Lot like Subnautica: The Movie
Am I the only Subnautica fan that instantly start paying attention when I saw the trailer for Above the Below? Honestly, the entire premise of the movie could’ve been pulled straight out of the story of Ryley Robinson crashing down onto 4546B in a lifepod as you watched the Aurora exploding above you through that tiny porthole in the ceiling. Now all we need is for this movie to feature the three main characters crashing down onto an alien ocean, and this could easily be a Subnautica tie-in movie.
The similarities Above the Below doesn’t end there though. Both Above the Below and Subnautica are British media. One is directed by Idris Elba, who is English, and features British film company Future Artists Entertainment as the production company. The other features British video game company Unknown Worlds Entertainment as the developer. Not only that, but the main character of Subnautica-Ryley Robinson-is a person of color. Jackson, who Idris Elba plays, is just as Black as his actor.
It’s an interesting series of coincidences that makes me wonder if Above the Below got some of its inspiration from Subnautica? I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, since Subnautica released in 2018: eight years before this movie is scheduled for theatrical release. Subnautica could very well have been the main inspiration for this movie. However, that’s speculation without any basis in fact for now. Take it with a grain of sea salt until we get any confirmation about this.
What do you all think? Do you think Above the Below seems just a bit similar to Subnautica? Tell us your oceanic thoughts in the comments section below.
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