The Meg 2: Ben Wheatley, Jason Statham shark thriller stars filming next week

The last time we heard a status update on The Meg 2, director Ben Wheatley’s sequel to Jon Turteltaub’s 2018 “Jason Statham vs. a giant shark” movie The Meg (watch it at THIS LINK), was way back in April – at which time Wheatley said he didn’t know when the film would go into production, but that he had already been working on the storyboards for three or four months. Now we finally know when The Meg 2 (which may be titled Meg 2: The Trench) is going to start filming, and the start date is only a few days away. According to KFTV, cameras start rolling at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden on January 24th and filming will last until late May.

KFTV notes that Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, which is located just outside London, has two water tanks – one exterior and one located inside D Stage.

The Meg star Jason Statham will be reprising the role of diver Jonas Taylor, and was said to be “creatively involved” in the development of the sequel.

Wheatley told Collider last year that he chose to direct The 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.”

The screenplay for The Meg 2 has been written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, the same writing team that was on the first film.

Wheatley’s previous credits include Down Terrace, Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England, High-Rise, Free Fire, Rebecca, and In the Earth. I wasn’t blown away by The Meg, but I’m looking forward to seeing what Wheatley does with the sequel. I have a feeling (or a hope) he’s going to be able to deliver something better than the first movie.