Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur is quietly building a notable collection of survival thrillers, over a decade after he explored the true story of a tragic ascent of Mount Everest. His upcoming film, featuring Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton, Apex, will debut on Netflix at the end of April. In the meantime, Netflix will also release his other acclaimed survival thriller: Beast, arriving on April 7.
Beast premiered in 2022 and holds a respectable 68 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes (with a 77 percent audience score). It was a modest box office success, grossing nearly $60 million against a $36 million budget, and features performances by Idris Elba, Sharlto Copley, Iyana Halley (Licorice Pizza), and Lea Sava Jeffries (Empire). However, the real draw of this film is that it showcases Idris Elba battling a lion.
What Is ‘Beast’ About?
Image Via Universal Pictures
In one corner, Idris Elba. In the other corner, a lion. One starred in The Wire, plays Knuckles in the Sonic films, and is also a DJ. The other has claws, powerful teeth, and is often referred to as the king of the jungle despite not living there. Winner takes all!
This setup differs from the man vs. animal scenario seen in Liam Neeson‘s The Grey, where Neeson literally fights wolves. Instead, it focuses on a man striving to survive — and protect his family — from a deadly beast. The film provides more context for the animal attacks than Neeson’s film does: Elba portrays a recently widowed man who feels guilty for not spending enough time with his daughters. He takes them to the village in Africa where his late wife grew up to reconnect with her friend (Copley).
The group encounters mysteriously injured animals and abandoned communities, leading them to realize that a rogue lion is on the loose. This lion even receives a backstory to explain why it has begun hunting humans, which is crucial to clarify that this specific lion is dangerous and not all lions are bad. This distinction prevents people from indiscriminately attacking lions as some wealthy individuals do when they travel to Africa to hunt rare animals.
FIND YOUR FILM →
01
What kind of film experience do you actually want?
The best movies don’t just entertain — they leave something behind.
ASomething that pulls the rug out — that makes me think I’m watching one kind of film and then reveals I’m watching another entirely.
BSomething overwhelming — funny, sad, absurd, and genuinely moving, all at once.
CSomething grand and weighty — a film that makes me feel the full scale of what I’m watching.
DSomething formally daring — a film that pushes what cinema can even do.
ESomething lean and relentless — pure tension with no wasted frame.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Which idea grabs you most in a film?
Great films are driven by a central obsession. What’s yours?
A Class , inequality , and what people are willing to do when desperation meets opportunity .
B Identity , family , and the chaos of trying to hold your life together when everything is falling apart .
C Genius , moral responsibility , and the catastrophic weight of a decision you can never take back .
D Ego , legacy , and the terror of becoming irrelevant while you’re still alive to watch it happen .
E Evil , chance , and whether moral order actually exists or if we just tell ourselves it does .
03
How do you like your story told?
Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.
A Genre-twisting — I want it to start in one lane and migrate into something completely different .
B Maximalist and genre-blending — comedy , action , drama , sci-fi , all in one ride .
C Epic and non-linear — cutting between timelines , building a mosaic of cause and consequence .
D A single unbroken flow — I want to feel like I’m living it in real time , no cuts to safety .
E Spare and precise — every scene doing exactly what it needs to do and nothing more .
04
What makes a truly great antagonist?
The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?
A A system — invisible , structural , and almost impossible to fight because it has no single face .
B The self — the ways we sabotage , abandon , and fail the people we love most .
C History — the unstoppable momentum of events that no single person can stop or redirect .
D The industry — the machinery of culture that chews up talent and spits out irrelevance .
E Pure , implacable evil — a force so certain of itself it becomes almost philosophical .
<span ==qw-question-text==What do you want from a film's ending?==
<span ==qw-question-sub==The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?==
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