Blackfish is a 2013 American documentary film directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. It concerns Tilikum, an orca held by SeaWorld and the controversy over captive orcas. The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2013, and was picked up by Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films for wider release. It was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary.
Synopsis
The documentary concerns the captivity of Tilikum, an orca involved in the deaths of three people, and the consequences of keeping orcas in captivity. The coverage of Tilikum includes his capture in 1983 off the coast of Iceland and his purported harassment by fellow captive orcas at Sealand of the Pacific. Cowperthwaite argues these incidents contributed to the orca's aggression.
The film includes a testimonial from Lori Marino, director of science with the Nonhuman Rights Project. Cowperthwaite also focuses on SeaWorld's claims that lifespans of orcas in captivity are comparable to those in the wild, typically 30 years for males and 50 years for females, a claim the film argues is false. Other people interviewed include former SeaWorld trainers, such as John Hargrove, who describe their experiences with Tilikum and other captive orcas.
The documentary argues that the wild-caught orcas experienced extreme stress when captured as juveniles, and spending a lifetime in aquaria being forced to perform and breed lead to aggression toward other orcas and humans. The film features footage of attacks on trainers by Tilikum and other captive orcas as well as interviews with witnesses.
Development
Cowperthwaite began work on the film after the February 2010 death of Tilikum's trainer Dawn Brancheau and in response to the claim that the orca had targeted Brancheau because she had worn her hair in a ponytail. Cowperthwaite argued that this claim had been conjecture and that "there had to be more to this story".
The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2013, and was picked up by Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films for wider release.
Release
Blackfish premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2013. Shortly after, Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films acquired US distribution rights to the film, releasing the film on July 19, 2013, with Dogwoof Pictures acquiring international rights. Dogwoof sold the film to multiple buyers for international territories, including Netflix for the UK, Scandinavia and Latin America (the latter two would later go to Universal) and Universal Pictures for Asia, Africa, Portugal, Italy and several other territories. However, in 2021, for unexplained reasons, Netflix removed Blackfish from their platform.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, the film has a score of 98% based on 132 reviews with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Blackfish is an aggressive, impassioned documentary that will change the way you look at performance killer whales." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 83 out of 100 based on 33 critics indicating "universal acclaim". The Deseret News called it "a gripping example of documentary filmmaking at its finest".
Box office
In release for 14 weeks, the film earned $2,073,582 at the North American domestic box office.
Response from trainers
After the film's release, former SeaWorld trainer Bridgette Pirtle said the final film was "a complete '180' from what was originally presented to me." In earlier statements, Pirtle praised the film's direction and supported its message. Mark Simmons, one of Tilikum's first trainers, believed few of his interview comments were used "because the things I said flew in the face of the movie's clear agenda. What I contributed did not support Gabriela or Tim Zimmerman's intent with the film."
Michael Scarpuzzi, the vice president for zoological operations and trainer for SeaWorld San Diego, says the film uses Brancheau's death and gruesome details to "not inform the public, but, rather regrettably, because of the desire to sensationalize." He states, "We have altered how we care for, display and train these extraordinary animals. We have changed the facilities, equipment and procedures at our killer whale habitats. The care and educational presentation of these animals at SeaWorld has been made safer than ever. Does Blackfish inform its viewers of that fact? No, it does not."