After decades of development hell, it looks like a cinematic adaptation of Steve Alten's 1997 shark thriller novel MEG is finally going into production soon. Things are looking so promising, in fact, that Warner Bros. has just announced a release date for the film: March 2, 2018.
While it's great to have an idea when we're going to be able to see Alten's massive prehistoric Megalodon shark wreaking havoc and gulping down humans on the big screen, there is a downside to this release date, as March 2, 2018 is the same day that Shane Black's THE PREDATOR is supposed to hit theatres. I have a feeling one of them is going to end up having to move.
Jon Turtletaub will be directing MEG, with Jason Statham and Fan Bingbing heading up the cast.
The film's story begins with
an international underwater observation program, led by Chinese scientists, being under attack by an unknown danger with its deep-sea submersible disabled and trapped at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Statham will portray a former Naval captain and expert deep-sea diver, who’s recruited for a likely suicide mission — even though he faced the predator years before and was forced him to abort his mission and abandon half his crew.
MEG is being co-financed by Flagship Entertainment, Warner Bros., and Gravity Pictures, a division of China Media Capital. Gravity Pictures will serve as distributor in China, with Warner Bros. sending MEG out to the rest of the world.
Filming will take place in China and New Zealand later this year.
I've always wanted to see the MEG movie happen, and now they've made it even more enticing by casting Statham in the lead. I can't wait to watch him fight a giant shark.