National Geographic has announced details on this year’s SharkFest celebrations, which will see a wide selection of new shark themed documentaries heading to the National Geographic channel, Hulu and Disney+ over the summer.

The event will kick off with the release of “Shark Beach With Anthony Mackie: Gulf Coast” on the Nat Geo channel. In it, the new Captain America navigates the waters of his hometown in New Orleans with leading scientists and local fishermen to uncover what can be done to help. Fishermen’s livelihoods, locals’ safety, and the future of regional shark conservation are all on the line.

Another new documentary will be “Shark Vs Ross Edgley”, which will see the ultra-athlete swimmer, world record holder and shark advocate Ross Edgley) will attempt to pit his mind and body against four of the most formidable sharks in the ocean.

 Other fin-tastic programming includes “Baby Sharks In The City”, which explores a newly discovered great white shark nursery off the coast of New York City; “Shark Attack 360” unravels in forensic detail WHY sharks attack; “Attack Of The Red Sea Sharks” investigates a recent spike of deadly attacks in Egypt; “Sharks Gone Viral” dishes out the fun as comedians and experts dive into the frenzy of the world’s most viral shark videos; and learn more about the biggest tiger sharks on Earth dominating the shores of Australia in “Supersized Sharks”.

Taking a bite out of the competition, in addition to airing and streaming on Nat Geo, Disney+, Hulu, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo Mundo and ESPN2, “SharkFest” programming will also air and stream across multiple Disney platforms including FAST pop-up Channel on ABC and Nat Geo apps featuring loop of content from years past; 2023 “SharkFest” content will be available for free on ABC and Nat Geo TVE apps; a 24/7 live stream of 2023 content will stream on YouTube; and encore presentations on Disney XD.
 
Summer’s iconic four-weeklong event will debut 26 hours of shark-infested original and enhanced programming across Nat Geo, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo Mundo and ESPN2; and all “SharkFest” shows will stream July 1st 2024 on Disney+ and Hulu in the United States.   I’d expect international Disney+ release details to follow, which will be slightly different.

The new original content heading to our screens this summer includes:

SHARK BEACH WITH ANTHONY MACKIE: GULF COAST (Produced by Nutopia)

• National Geographic – Premieres June 30 at 9/8c
• Nat Geo WILD – August 2 at 9/8c
• Disney+ and Hulu – July 1

Shark Beach with Anthony Mackie: Gulf Coast follows Mackie in his hometown of New Orleans, where he grew up boating and fishing, and still fishes its waters to this day. In this hour-long special, Mackie investigates a fishing phenomenon called depredation, in which a shark preys upon a fisherman’s catch and consumes it before it can be retrieved. Across the globe, more and more fishermen are encountering this competition for food, bringing humans and sharks in closer proximity than ever before. After an increase in shark sightings in his hometown, Mackie sets out to learn more about these cases from the local Louisiana fishing communities affected as well as specialist scientists. He discovers how these human-shark encounters may be pointing to larger environmental issues on the shores of Louisiana and through the Gulf of Mexico.

SHARK VS. ROSS EDGLEY (Produced by Big Wave Productions)

• National Geographic – Premieres June 30 at 10/9c
• Nat Geo WILD – August 3 at 9/8c
• Disney+ and Hulu – July 1

Ultra-athlete and shark advocate Ross Edgley goes head-to-head against four of the ocean’s most formidable sharks. He’s won the world record for the world’s longest assisted stage sea swim of nearly 1,800 miles but now Ross is pushing himself even further and testing his speed, strength, endurance, and digestive system. In four jaw-dropping shark challenges, Ross attempts a G-force turn like a hammerhead, a polaris jump out the water like a white shark, to out swim the mako — the world’s fastest shark — and finally, he tries to feast like a tiger shark.

SHARKS GONE VIRAL (Produced by Painless Television)

• National Geographic – Premieres July 1 at 9/8c
• Nat Geo WILD – July 30 at 8/7c
• Disney+ and Hulu – July 1

It’s a social media feed frenzy as comedians Helen Hong, Keon Polee and the Sklar Brothers deep dive into the internet’s wildest shark videos — from lightning-fast shark attacks to sharks living on a golf course — while a panel of experts explore the science behind social media’s most influential fish.
 

SUPERSIZED SHARKS (Produced by Big Wave Productions)

• National Geographic – Premieres July 1 at 10/9c
• Nat Geo WILD – July 31 at 9/8c
• Disney+ and Hulu – July 1

Norfolk Island, 800 miles off the coast of Australia, is home to some of the largest tiger sharks in the world. As strange as it sounds, some think this small island in the middle of the South Pacific has become like a drive-thru burger joint for tiger sharks to gorge on meat. For the first time, scientists are diving in to answer why there are so many huge tigers there. Shark biologists Lauren Meyers, Charlie Huveneers and Adam Barnett lure the giants to their boat to investigate and make a surprising discovery.

BABY SHARKS IN THE CITY (Produced by Passion Planet)

• National Geographic – Premieres July 2 at 8/7c
• Nat Geo WILD – July 29 at 8p/7c
• Disney+ and Hulu – July 1

Shark biologists have discovered a nursery of Atlantic great whites right off the coast of New York City! Watch as they deploy a state-of-the-art camera tag to reveal the secret life of the baby great white for the first time in these Atlantic waters, and study how climate change may impact the future of this shark population.

SHARK ATTACK 360 (Eight-episode series; Produced by Arrow Media)

• National Geographic – Premieres July 2 at 10/9c
• Nat Geo WILD – August 1 at 5/4c
• Disney+ and Hulu – July 1

Dive into the world of shark bites and investigate why they happen. An international team of experts hunts for clues, using evidence and personal accounts to unravel the mysteries behind shark behavior. Cutting-edge VFX technology is used in the 360-shark lab to analyze data and understand, in forensic detail, the reasons behind shark attacks.

ATTACK OF THE RED SEA SHARKS (Produced by Windfall Films)

• National Geographic – Premieres July 7 at 10/9c
• Disney+ and Hulu – July 1

Attack of the Red Sea Sharks investigates why sharks killed three people in less than a year in the coastal waters of Red Sea resorts. Multiple witnesses captured the gruesome attacks, with the videos quickly going viral, sparking confusion and hysteria. Are these attacks part of a growing trend that is becoming more common worldwide? A team of scientists launches a global pursuit to answer that question and find ways to prevent future attacks.
 

Roger’s Take: It’s great to see “SharkFesk” returning for another year and this year’s lineup looks fun, especially the Anthony Mackie special.  It’s also interesting to see Disney is going with a binge-drop release schedule for this year rather than dropping them week to week, which is a shame because this is a lot of similar content dropping at once, but it can also be overwhelming having new Shark documentaries dropping each week.   As a huge shark fan, I’ll be checking out these documentaries!

What are you looking forward to watching during “SharkFest”?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

View all posts