First trailer for mega-shark thriller The Meg with Jason Statham attacks

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

So, true story, I once chatted with author Steve Alten after reading "Meg" back in my college days and we had a nice back and forth about the book and his struggle to get it adapted for the big screen. I remember saying that it needed to a hard R as there is a ton of bloody gore in the book, but Alten always felt that the gore didn't merit that and that you could get away with enough having a PG-13. Well, after years of development hell, Alten's dream is coming true and THE MEG will be swimming into theaters this August and now we have our first look at a trailer for the film to see just what you're in for from director Jon Turteltaub (NATIONAL TREASURE) and Jason Statham (as the lead, Jonas Taylor).

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Here's the synopsis:

A deep-sea submersible—part of an international undersea observation program—has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific…with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer (Winston Chao), against the wishes of his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing), to save the crew—and the ocean itself—from this unstoppable threat: a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon. What no one could have imagined is that, years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying creature. Now, teamed with Suyin, he must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below

As a fan of the book series (this could easily turn into franchise city) I'm pretty excited for this (although I could've done without the on-the-nose Sinatra music in the trailer). The first book of which this is based is a total bloody blast and reads like it was written for the screen. If anything, I feel like the effects had to catch up to the ambition of it all and I think we're finally there. This looks like pure popcorn entertainment (again, much like the book) and could be the perfect late-summer escape we all need. Or, y'know, a bigger reason to fear going in the ocean, no matter how unlikely it is you'd run into a Megaladon.

THE MEG swims into theaters on August 10th.