The summer of 2023 is about to get a lot more treacherous. Yes, Meg 2: The Trench plans to make waves during the summertime box office. And director Ben Wheatley (Ideal, Doctor Who, Rebecca) has taken the helm of the sequel to 2018’s The Meg. And the filmmaker promises an epic, overarching scope when it comes to the science fiction, horror and adventure mash-up.
Wheatley said during an interview in the latest issue of Total Film magazine (via ComicBook.com):
By the time I got to ‘The Meg,’ I’d done a lot of effects work, and I had an inkling of it. And because of the pandemic, I had an extra six or seven months, so I storyboarded the whole thing, every frame of it. So, when we came to start it, there was a massive amount of prep that had been done. I don’t like the idea of these tales of people making it up on the day. I wanted every dollar on screen.
Wheatley replaces Jon Turteltaub who served as the director of the original Meg film adaptation. The Meg was based on author Steve Alten’s horror/sci-fi story The Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror (1997). In 1999, Alten published a follow-up titled The Trench, which was touted on the book cover as “the sequel to the ‘Jurassic shark’ bestseller.” And now Meg 2: The Trench readies itself to take a bite out of the box office.
Related: Meg 2: Why You Should Be Excited for This Aquatic Action Flick
Wheatley’s Epic Meg Sequel Should Scare Up Audiences
Warner Bros. Pictures
Director Ben Wheatley will be swimming with sharks next week when his film Meg 2: The Trench hits theaters. The cast includes an eclectic mix of talent including some of The Meg’s survivors. Among them, Jason Statham and Cliff Curtis are both confirmed to return.
Wheatley addresses The Meg’s characters and storyline in the same interview:
The international-ness of it is very interesting. What’s so smart about the first film is that it’s not ‘Rush Hour.’ It’s not East-meets-West, ‘Oh, we’re all confused about each other’ … It’s just people working together, and being in an everyday adventure, and the people just happen to come from places all over the world. I think that’s good for audiences, and it’s a good message as well.
Should Meg 2: The Trench swim rather than sink at the box office, Wheatley hopes to steer Meg 3’s ship through cinema waters, too. Author Steve Alten’s third book in his series of sci-fi/horror novels was 2004’s Meg: Primal Waters. However, the creatives behind the possible production would have a plethora of stories to choose from, courtesy of Alten’s library of installments centered around The Meg. And Wheatley is definitely down for more oceanic-sized adventures.
Wheatley also told Total Film:
You don’t want to talk about it until ‘Meg 2’ is out. But I hope so. There’s a lot more to explore in that world. It’s very rich.
Box office projections aren’t available, at the time of this writing, for Meg 2. However, the first film, The Meg, made $531 million globally against a budget of $130 million (per Box Office Mojo). If the sequel can be more of a Barbie than Barry Allen (The Flash) in theaters, Meg 3 could terrorize audiences in the future.
Early screenings for Meg 2: The Trench open in theaters on Thursday, August 3.
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