Nancy climbs onto the whale carcass, but the shark rams it from underneath, forcing her to swim to an isolated rock. As she rides the last wave back to the beach, a large 23 ft (7.0 m) great white shark knocks her off her surfboard and bites her leg. While surfing one last time for the day, Nancy notices the carcass of a young humpback whale nearby.
When she talks to her father in an emotional and strained conversation, it is revealed that Nancy is a senior student but her mother's death recently caused her to consider dropping out of medical school before graduation. Taking a break from surfing, she video-chats with her younger sister Chloe. Nancy joins two other locals and the three surf for several hours.
Carlos, a friendly local resident, gives Nancy a ride and drops her off at the beach, while a friend of hers who came along with her is staying back at a hotel after partying too much. Shortly after the death of her mother due to cancer, medical student Nancy Adams travels to a secluded beach in Mexico, the same beach her mother visited while she was pregnant with her. The film received generally positive reviews and grossed over $119 million against a production budget in the range of $17–25 million, becoming a box office success.
The film was released in the United States on June 24, 2016, by Columbia Pictures. Principal photography began in October 2015 in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. In the film, a medical student, surfing on vacation, gets stranded 200 yards (180 m) from shore and must use her wits and determination to survive a great white shark attack. The Shallows is a 2016 American survival thriller film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, written by Anthony Jaswinski and starring Blake Lively.