Meg 2: The Trench earns PG-13 rating for Jason Statham vs. shark action

Last week, Warner Bros. unveiled the 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). If that trailer left you wondering if the sea creature mayhem of this film was going to boost it into the R rating territory, you can stop wondering. Because it hasn’t. Just like The Meg, Meg 2: The Trench has earned a PG-13 rating. The Motion Picture Association ratings board has given it a PG-13 for action/violence, some bloody images, language and brief suggestive material.

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.

Are you looking forward to Meg 2: The Trench? If so, were you hoping it would be rated R, or are you fine with a PG-13 rating? Let us know by leaving a comment below.