The Meg 2: Ben Wheatley Teases Huge Blockbuster!

Ben Wheatley has teased that The Meg 2: The Trench will be insanely large in scale!

2018 saw the release of the big-screen version of the Steve Alten novel ‘Meg: A Novel Of Deep Terror‘. The title for the film version was shortened to simply ‘The Meg‘. (Read our review). Jason Statham stepped into the shoes of the hero Jonas Taylor, a move that didn’t quite work out. While Statham was good as the hero, he wasn’t how the character was in the book. Director Jon Turtletaub did a great job with the film. But the screenplay veered far away from the events of the novel. However, the film was a dumb but fun way to spend two hours and was a genuine thrill ride in places.

BIG BUDGET

With a budget of $130-178million, the film went on to gross an impressive $530.2million. A sequel was always on the cards from that point on. And so it has come to pass. Turtletaub has vacated the director’s chair to be replaced by Ben Wheatley this time around. The screenplay is being written by Jon and Erich Hoeber, who alongside Dean Georgaris wrote the script for the first film. Now, Wheatley has teased what we can expect from the new movie:

“A lot of it is respecting The Meg, and trying to make sure it’s a great Meg film… It’s an opportunity to do action on such an insanely large scale, that it’s just unbelievable. From doing ‘Free Fire’, which was, I thought, was all my Christmases came at once in terms of action, this is just unbelievable. And just doing the storyboards for it, just thinking and going, ‘Oh,’ it’s just … I feel a heavy responsibility for it, to make sure that it kind of delivers on all the, to all the big shark fans out there.”

Creator Steve Alten proclaimed the script for the sequel was complete back in September. He spoke about how impressed he was with the way the script kept the dark tone of his novel. And he went on to say the film would likely be rated R, unlike the original’s PG-13. Star Jason Statham is due to return once again. This time though, he has been creatively involved with the project. Many, if not all of the cast who survived the first film are also due to return.

R-RATING

If the film IS to be an R-rated blockbuster, I’ll be first in line to see it. However, I can’t shake the feeling that the film will once again be shooting with a PG-13 in mind. Although that didn’t diminish the original film, a darker and more violent ‘Meg‘ film would be better. It wouldn’t need strong language, just more scares and bloodletting. To show the real horror of a shark attack. However, having a prehistoric gigantic shark as the villain pushes the film into fantasy territory.

Review | The Meg

Adding to that is ‘Deep Blue Sea‘ did the shark film genre better, as did ‘The Shallows‘. Of course, no film will ever better the daddy of them all, ‘Jaws‘. Regardless of the rating though, I will be in the theatre to experience it on opening day. ‘The Meg 2‘ could be the thrill ride to end them all. And I’m ready to dive in once more.