According to director Ben Wheatley, The Meg 2 could actually have not one, but two megalodons swimming around. In 2018, the long-gestating adaptation of Steve Alten’s horror novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror finally made its way to the big screen. The Meg starred Jason Statham as a deep-sea rescue diver who finds himself confronting the terrifying might of a 75-foot megalodon, a shark long thought to be extinct. The film was a surprise box office smash when it premiered, grossing an impressive $530.2 million worldwide. It also starred Bingbing Li, Ruby Rose, Cliff Curtis, and Rainn Wilson.
The success of The Meg soon led to discussions of a sequel, with the first reports confirming it to be in early development emerging in the fall of 2018. Last year, Alten said in a newsletter the sequel would be called The Meg 2: The Trench, thus keeping in line with his book series. A month later, Wheatley signed on to direct The Meg 2, just as his latest film Rebecca was released on Netflix. It’s expected that the sequel will see much of the original cast return, including Statham.
Recent days have seen Wheatley teasing The Meg 2 while he promotes his latest project, In the Earth. When talking to Den of Geek, Wheatley confirmed he’s in the storyboarding stages for the shark sequel and called the entire process “really exciting.” He couldn’t reveal much more about the plot or the cast, but he did offer one terrifyingly exciting tease. “I don’t think I can say at the moment what’s going on, the ins and outs of it,” Wheatley said. “But guaranteed, there will be a Megalodon — maybe more than one.”
On paper, the addition of another megalodon makes sense. After all, sequels often go bigger than their predecessors, and one way to step up from The Meg would be to double the number of title creatures. This has happened before, such as with Legendary’s MonsterVerse. 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters introduced a slew of new Titans to go up against the titular lizard. Though, based on the critical reception to that project, The Meg 2 might want to find its own compelling hook. It also should be noted, The Meg already included two megalodons, though the ending implied even more had escaped from the trench following the first.
It sounds like after several years, The Meg 2 is finally picking up steam. Wheatley recently promised The Meg 2 will have lots of large scale action, which is exactly what audiences expect from a project like this. The biggest question on fans’ minds now is likely, when will they see it? Should The Meg 2 get the chance to begin production this year, the movie could be released in late 2022. It’s a bit early to make premiere date predictions, but audiences can rest assured Wheatley is hard at work on the film, and he’s definitely having a good time.
Source: Den of Geek
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