On Paper, Louisiana Was Cheaper. The Whale Movie 'Whalefall' Shot in California.

The 20th Century Studios thriller drew nearly $11 million in state credits against $50 million in qualified California spending.

“Whalefall,” the 20th Century Studios whale thriller, drew nearly $11 million in California film and television tax credits against $50 million in qualified spending. Deadline reported the production's numbers on September 7, 2026, in an interview with the film's producers. The picture opens October 16, 2026.

Split that credit across the shoot and it's roughly $175,000 for each of the 62 days the cameras ran — we did the division on Deadline's own figures. The schedule was booked at 50 days and grew to 62, the outlet reported. Deadline's breakdown puts the production at 11 actors and 180 crew. The same breakdown counts 409 background performers.

Executive producer Doug Merrifield told Deadline he laid California and Louisiana schedules and budgets side by side before the shoot, and Louisiana came out ahead — by six figures, he said, not seven. His pitch to the studio was that the crews here were worth the difference: the team convinced 20th Century that “the best creative teams are here” for this kind of picture, he told the outlet. Merrifield added that once specialists were flown into New Orleans, the savings would have washed out or gone the other way.

California doesn't pay a credit on above-the-line costs — the cast, the director, the producers — and Merrifield said the film's post and visual effects work with Guillaume Rocheron was large enough to make up that ground.

The picture shot from Monterey to San Pedro before finishing at Radford Studios, where Deadline visited the set in September 2025. Wētā Workshop in New Zealand built the whale's stomach. The head, throat, esophagus and larynx were built in California, too large to reach the set on schedule from overseas, the outlet reported. StudioArt & Technology manufactured the head, 12 feet tall and 18 feet long.

Merrifield said the production took four stages at Radford:

• Stage 17, the ocean tank
• Stage 16, the stomachs
• Stage 12, the throat and the 360-degree rigs

Imagine Entertainment producer Allen Mendelbaum told Deadline that crews take a Los Angeles job first because they can sleep at home. The reason the stages were available is the part nobody puts in a press release.

“We were fortunate that it is at this time we were able to make such a good deal. But unfortunately, it is because it's so slow right now.” — Doug Merrifield, as told to Deadline

Here's the comp nobody in the room wants to run. “Whalefall” converts to about 22 cents of credit for every qualified dollar. Deadline lists the “It Follows” sequel “They Follow” at $7 million in credits against $20 million in qualified spending. Netflix's “13 Going on 30” reboot comes in at $10.9 million against $31.2 million. Both land near 35 cents.

“Whalefall” won its credit in a December 2024 allocation round, Deadline reported. That round spread $108.6 million across 10 film and television projects. The program has since expanded to $750 million a year, and over the summer 41 films took $187 million.

Merrifield told the outlet that features won't come back in volume without an above-the-line incentive, and that a year from now the expanded program's effect should be readable. Applications for feature films and independent productions close in September; the television window runs into October.

Source: deadline.com, retrieved September 8, 2026.