When Statham’s giant prehistoric shark-punching The Meg powered its way to over $500 million at the box office, beating every projection and expectation, the sequel was inevitable. The choice of Ben Wheatley as director was not. The Free Fire, High Rise, and Kill List director was a surprise choice. The trailer for Meg 2: The Trench showed more of the same, sci-fi-tinged giant monster mayhem with a sense of its own ridiculousness and its tongue firmly in its cheek.
This continued when Warner Bros. released a mini-trailer, firmly making fun of The Little Mermaid:
In the new film, Statham is joined by Wu Jing as the characters lead a daring research team on an exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean. Their voyage spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival – pitting them against multiple colossal Megs, relentless environmental plunderers, and another beast from the abyss.
The director gave an interview to Total Film, and said if this is successful he already has some ideas for a third entry:
“You don’t want to talk about it until Meg 2 is out, but I hope [to see a third installment]. There’s a lot more to explore in that world. It’s very rich. The international-ness of it is very interesting.”
Meanwhile, star Sienna Guillory has shared how when first reading the script for The Meg 2, she was blown away. She told The Digital Fix:
“I can’t say much [laughs], but it is definitely… it’s definitely, very, very, exciting. I mean, unbelievably exciting,” Guillory explained. “Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t think I’m allowed to say anything about anything. But I was literally reading the script going [mimes flipping through pages] ‘oh!’”
The Steve Alten books on which the series is based had eight instalments, so there is plenty left to mine. The movies are something of a departure from the books, borrowing characters and central ideas but not following the story. The books are also notoriously much more graphic, gory, and vivid than the movies can afford to be.
Page Kennedy, Shuya Sophia Cai, and Cliff Curtis all return from the first film. Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Sienna Guillory, and Skyler Samuels round out the new cast. Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, and Dean Georgaris wrote the script.
Meg 2: The Trench hits cinemas on August 4th.
Check back every day for movie news and reviews at the Last Movie Outpost
