The Meg 2: Ben Wheatley teases insanely large scale of the sequel

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Ben Wheatley may not necessarily be the first person to jump to mind when you're looking for someone to helm your giant prehistoric shark movie, but it was announced last fall that the Rebecca director would be helming the sequel to The Meg.

The first film was directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) and starred Jason Statham as Jonas Taylor, an expert deep-sea rescue diver who is recruited to save the crew of a submersible that has been attacked by a Megalodon, a massive prehistoric creature thought to have been extinct. Despite the mixed reviews, The Meg was a box-office success as it grossed over $530 million worldwide, so talk of a sequel quickly emerged. Plot details surrounding the sequel are being kept under wraps, but Ben Wheatley spoke with ComicBook.com recently to tease his plans for the upcoming film.

A lot of it is respecting The Meg, and trying to make sure it's a great Meg film… 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 on all the, to all the big shark fans out there.

Many of the key talents involved with the first film are expected to return for The Meg sequel, including Jason Statham, who is said to be creatively involved this time around. An initial draft of the sequel was written by Dean Georgaris, with Jon and Erich Hoeber now in the process of crafting the screenplay. The three writers also wrote the script for the first film. Although I enjoyed The Meg more than I expected, it still felt a little forgettable at the end of the day, but if Ben Wheatley is able to go ball-to-the-wall crazy with the sequel, I'll definitely be there to watch it. What are you hoping to see in The Meg sequel?