Meg 2: The Trench trailer previews the Jason Statham vs. giant shark rematch!

Last month, attendees at CinemaCon – including JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray – had the chance to watch the first trailer for Meg 2: The Trench, director Ben Wheatley’s sequel to Jon Turteltaub’s 2018 “Jason Statham vs. a giant shark” movie The Meg (watch it at THIS LINK). Now those of us who weren’t at CinemaCon get our chance to watch the trailer, which is now online. Check it out in the embed above!

The screenplay for Meg 2: The Trench has been written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, the same writing team that was on the first film. These films are inspired by a series of novels written by Steve Alten.

Jason Statham is back in the lead as rescue diver Jonas Taylor and is joined in the cast of the sequel by returning co-stars Cliff Curtis, Shuya Sophia Cai, and Page Kennedy, as well as Sienna Guillory (Resident Evil: Apocalypse), Skyler Samuels (The Gifted), Sergio Peris-Mencheta (Rambo: Last Blood), and Wu Jing (Wolf Warrior II). Li Bingbing isn’t reprising the role of oceanographer Suyin in this movie, despite the fact that Shuya Sophia Cai’s character Meiying is the young daughter of Suyin.

Wheatley told Collider last year that he chose to direct Meg 2 because he “really loved” the first film. “I usually just go with my gut, so if something comes across from my agent and I like it, then I just go for it. So this came up and I just went, ‘Oh, Christ! Meg 2, I’ll do that! That’s brilliant!’“

Speaking with ComicBook.com, Wheatley said he was also interested in the project because “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 to all the big shark fans out there.“

Wheatley’s previous credits include Down Terrace, Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England, High-Rise, Free Fire, Rebecca, and In the Earth.

Warner Bros. will be giving Meg 2: The Trench a theatrical release on August 4, 2023.

What did you think of the trailer for Meg 2: The Trench? Will you be going out to see this movie on the big screen in August? Let us know by leaving a comment below.