Jason Statham as Shark Puncher is a pitch that gets the studios excited these days, right up there with “Snakes on a Plane” or “Margot Robbie is Barbie.” The Meg, the 2018 film based on Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, was a sleeper hit that grossed over $530 million worldwide on an estimated budget of $130-150 million, and quickly gained a cult status. In the movie, Statham plays a rescue diver, Jonas Taylor, who confronts a prehistoric megalodon, a giant shark.
Despite the film’s reputation for being preposterous nonsense, it still managed to captivate audiences. Yet, critics complained it wasn’t as entertaining as it should be. This is something producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura set out to rectify in the sequel The Meg 2: The Trench.
Speaking with Steve Weintraub from Collider, Di Bonaventura talked about the sequel’s performance in testing and his hopes for its release in theaters. He stated that despite the film’s dark themes, it could afford to be more humorous, which was something they’d taken on board. According to Di Bonaventura, adding more comedy, without gore, could produce that coveted PG-13 rating while still maintaining the film’s edge.
“There’s more shark attacks. There’s more crazy ideas that we’ve tested out on the audience. So the movie, it’s testing well, but more importantly, the audience seems to be relating to it very similar to the first movie. They push back on the blood. As long as you don’t do gore, they sort of accept the fun nature of it, you know? And I think because of the fun nature, it takes the edge off it a little bit….But at the same time, the movie needs to have some edge, or else it feels like it becomes a spoof or something, and that’s definitely not what it is. So, I think the trickiest thing about The Meg is keeping that balance between violence and humor.”
With the first film’s box office success and the anticipation for the sequel, it’s understandable Warner Bros. and Di Bonaventura may be thinking about turning it into a franchise, but Di Bonaventura is keeping an open mind and believes they need to find a different way to tell the story to avoid outstaying their welcome and losing the audience’s goodwill.
“I think the challenge will be how to find, in a way, another underwater world to explore….My gut says that’s the thing we’ll need to figure out so it doesn’t feel like you’re going to the same place over and over again….But I think a third time there might feel like we’re overstaying our welcome. So I think that’ll be the task the next time is to figure out what is that next underwater experience that you want to find?”
But Does He Punch a Shark?
For those eagerly waiting to see Statham punch a shark, Di Bonaventura teased that it might not happen that way. However, the sequel might top that idea, and the fans might see Statham tapping the shark in a really violent way, or even kicking it!
The Meg 2: The Trench, directed by Ben Wheatley, is set to release in theaters on August 4th, 2023. Check out the official trailer below:
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
