WILL MEG 2 THE TRENCH START SHOOTING THIS MONTH?
After The Meg was a big hit at the global box office in 2018, a sequel was inevitable. And now that big fish follow up is expected to finally start shooting in January.
There's been no shooting date update since April last year, with January being mooted by Jason Statham himself. Here's hoping Covid hasn't made things slip.
The Meg still seems to polarise audiences, some enjoying its silliness and monster movie credentials, others feeling it a missed opportunity compared to the book by Steve Alten.
Whilst others inevitably saying it is no Jaws. No it isn't, and although there are homages aplenty, it isn't trying to be Jaws. Calm down dear, it's just a giant shark movie, which owes more to Godzilla and King Kong than Steven Spielberg's Jaws.
So, what can we expect from The Meg 2? We know we have the return of Jason Statham, but that is all who has been confirming regarding casting, although one presumes most of the main survivors will be back from the first picture.
New in the director's chair is UK filmmaker, Ben Wheatley, who has already admitted that he is a huge fan of Jaws, which should prove interesting.
And Wheatley previously compared Statham to a previous actor from the Jaws franchise.
He said: "It’s that he (Statham) feels very genuine and real, and you need that person in a generation, don’t you? Michael Caine for a long time was that character who would play himself in everything pretty much, but he would crop up in shark films and also gangster movies and all these different things.
"Statham’s the same. And I think why The Meg worked so well was there’s a feeling that he’s trying hard to be tough, but he’s also vulnerable, that he can be hurt. That’s something a lot of cinema hasn’t got any more. The characters seem to be absolutely indestructible."
Plot details are currently under wraps but it has been hinted that The Meg may have had offspring, so we could be looking at multiple sharks. If so, someone has to include a homage to Jaws 3D, with the some damn sharks mother line from the film.
We'll be crossing our fins that The Meg 2 starts shooting this month, or at least in the early part of this year. All of which hopefully means it will be released in 2023.
And however you feel about the prospect of a sequel to The Meg, we at least know it will be on the big screen, which is helping keeping the legacy of shark cinema afloat. A legacy left by the mighty Jaws.