Renny Harlin’s “Deep Water” opens in U.S. theaters today, and Molly Belle Wright has one of the film’s most-discussed roles. Wright plays Cora, a moody tween reluctantly traveling with her newly blended family on a doomed Los Angeles-to-Shanghai flight that, after a cargo fire and crash landing, becomes a feeding frenzy of mako sharks. She co-stars with Aaron Eckhart and Sir Ben Kingsley. The film runs 1 hour 46 minutes and is rated R.
Magenta Light Studios is handling the U.S. release, which it acquired the rights to in February 2025. The film was produced on a reported $30 million budget by Gene Simmons and Gary Hamilton through their Simmons/Hamilton banner, alongside Arclight Films and Nostromo Pictures.
The film opened the Sarasota Film Festival on April 10 as the festival’s opening night selection before heading to wide theatrical release. It enters a crowded May 1 frame that also includes “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and “Animal Farm,” among roughly ten new wide and limited releases.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film stands at 80 percent positive from 35 critics, with reviews characterizing it as a competent, gory throwback to the 1970s disaster picture. The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Plugged In, and Flickering Myth all framed it in those terms, with most reviewers crediting Harlin (the filmmaker behind “Die Hard 2,” “Cliffhanger,” and “Deep Blue Sea”) for staging the crash sequence and shark attacks with confidence even when the script falls back on stock characters.
Wright’s work as Cora has surfaced in several of the reviews. Owen Gleiberman, in his Variety review dated April 30, identifies the bond between Eckhart’s character and the orphaned Cora as one of the film’s central emotional beats, framing it as the trigger for the first officer’s reappraisal of his own family back home. David Rooney’s review for The Hollywood Reporter describes the same arc, noting that Eckhart’s parental instincts are reactivated by Cora’s vulnerability. Punch Drunk Critics’ Travis Hopson singled out the “couple of poignant scenes” Wright shares with Eckhart, in which Cora processes guilt over her treatment of her stepbrother and stepmother before the crash.
Flickering Myth’s review went further on screen time, reporting that among the film’s passenger characters, Cora has the most.
For readers following Wright’s career, this marks her highest-profile theatrical release in the U.S. to date. Her most recent release is “Flavia,” a Sky Original family adventure film in which she plays the title role, eleven-year-old British detective Flavia de Luce, opposite Martin Freeman, Jonathan Pryce, and Toby Jones. Adapted by Susan Coyne from Alan Bradley’s bestselling novels and directed by Bharat Nalluri, “Flavia” premiered on Sky Cinema and NOW in the UK on April 4 and has not yet been dated for U.S. release. Before “Flavia,” Wright was seen as Beth in Lionsgate’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” released in November 2024, and as the co-lead in the indie feature “Omaha,” which premiered in the Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
In an interview with TresA Magazine published last year, Wright spoke about the experience of taking on the role. She told the magazine she “loved portraying that change” as Cora moves from moody tween to scared child after the crash.
“Deep Water” is in theaters now. Showtimes are available through Fandango, AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas, and the film’s official site at deepwaterthefilm.com.
