The Meg

The Meg is a 2018 science fiction action film directed by Jon Turteltaub from a screenplay by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, loosely based on the 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten. The film stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis. In the plot, a group of scientists encounters a megalodon shark while on a rescue mission on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
Walt Disney Studios originally purchased the film rights to the novel in the 1990s, but the film spent years in development hell. The rights eventually landed at Warner Bros. Pictures, and the film was green-lit in 2013. Turteltaub and much of the cast joined by September 2014. Principal photography began in October 2016 and lasted until January 2017, occurring in New Zealand and China.
The Meg was released in the United States on August 10, 2018. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but was a box office success, grossing over $530 million worldwide against a production budget of $130 million. A sequel, Meg 2: The Trench, was released on August 2023.
Plot
Jonas Taylor is a rescue diver who attempts to save the crew of a damaged nuclear submarine when he sees the hull being rammed by an unidentified creature. Two of his crew are trapped in the damaged sub, but Jonas is forced to flee, realizing that attempting rescue would result in the deaths of everyone he has already saved. Jonas' account of the story is dismissed by fellow survivor Dr. Heller, who denounces his actions as the result of pressure-induced psychosis.
Five years later, billionaire Jack Morris meets Dr. Minway Zhang at the underwater research facility Mana One. Zhang and his oceanographer daughter Suyin supervise a mission to explore what turns out to be a deeper section of the Mariana Trench, previously concealed by a thermocline of hydrogen sulfide. The mission submersible is piloted by Japanese scientist Toshi, an American scientist referred to as "The Wall," and Jonas' ex-wife Lori. They discover an abundance of never-before-seen flora and fauna below the thermocline, but an attack by a large, unidentified creature causes the submersible to lose contact with Mana One. Jonas' old friend and Mana One operations manager, James "Mac" Mackreides, suggests sending Jonas down to attempt a rescue.
Despite the objections of Heller (now a member of the Mana One crew), Zhang and Mac venture to Thailand to recruit Jonas, who is now a drunken loner. Jonas is initially skeptical but relents after listening to a taped recording containing the dialogue between Lori, her crew and Mana One. Suyin attempts the rescue in their absence but is attacked by a giant squid. Before the squid can crush her submersible, it is killed by an enormous shark. Having agreed to help, Jonas breaches the thermocline and reaches the sunken submersible. When the shark returns and attacks the submersible before the evacuation has been completed, Toshi sacrifices himself to help the others escape.
Returning to Mana One, the crew discovers the giant shark is a megalodon or "Meg", a prehistoric species of shark previously believed to be extinct. While discussing how to address it, Suyin's daughter Meiying encounters and narrowly avoids an attack from the shark outside Mana One's underwater tunnels. The crew realizes that the Meg pursued them through a temporary break they caused in the thermocline and resolves to go out and track the Meg before killing it with poison. After the Meg destroys three nearby shark fin-fishing ships, Jonas enters the water to shoot the Meg with a tracker, and then the team puts Suyin in a shark-proof tank so she can shoot the Meg with poison. However, the mission goes awry when the shark attacks the cage and cracks Suyin's mask, causing her to lose oxygen. She manages to poison the shark just as Jonas manages to get her out of the cage. The Meg returns and attacks Jonas and Suyin, but it gets snagged on the cage's line and dies from the poison.
But in their moment of triumph, a second larger Meg (revealed to be the individual that attacked the group earlier back at the trench) emerges, devouring The Wall and the dead Meg, critically wounding Zhang and destroying the crew's ship. Heller sacrifices himself by distracting the Meg to save fellow crew member Jaxx. Mac swims out to a floating lifeboat so that he and the crew can regroup at Mana One, though Zhang dies on the way. The shark gives chase, but it is deterred by a helicopter Morris called in. Back at the station, Morris claims that he has informed all the neighbouring governments about the Meg and that they have sent two destroyers to torpedo the shark while secretly enlisting a mercenary team to kill the shark with depth charges, but they accidentally kill a whale. Realizing the Meg is near, the team speeds away but Morris falls overboard and is eaten. The team soon learns of Morris' deceit and resolves to kill the Meg themselves.
The Meg attacks a crowded beach in Sanya Bay in China and devours several beachgoers before the Mana One crew uses a whale call to divert its attention toward them. Jonas and Suyin board submersibles and work together to kill the Meg, but Suyin is forced to break off to save the others when a helicopter crashing into their ship forces them into the water. Jonas takes on the Meg alone and despite his submarine taking damage, he wounds the beast with his damaged submersible and stabs it in the eye, spilling its blood and attracting a shiver of modern sharks that devour the dying Meg.
Jonas reunites with the rest of the Mana One crew on a passing wedding boat and considers taking a vacation with Suyin and Meiying. Meanwhile, in the water, a passing Meg is heard, suggesting that more than two escaped the trench.
Cast
Production
Development
Disney's Hollywood Pictures initially acquired the rights to the novel in 1996. Around that time, Tom Wheeler was hired to adapt the book into a screenplay, but, having decided that his script was not good enough, the studio hired Jeffrey Boam to write a new draft. Boam's script was later rejected for the same reason. By 1999 the project had stalled, and the rights reverted to Steve Alten, the book's author.
In 2005, reports surfaced that the project was being developed by New Line Cinema, with an estimated budget of $75 million and a slated release of summer 2006. Names attached to the production included Jan de Bont as director, Guillermo del Toro as producer, and Shane Salerno as a screenwriter. However, New Line later canceled the project due to budgetary concerns. The rights reverted to Alten again, but the film remained in development hell.
In 2015, it was announced that the film was now moving forward at Warner Bros., with a new script written by Dean Georgaris. By June of that year, Eli Roth was reported to be in talks to direct, but due to creative differences, Roth was replaced by Jon Turteltaub in early 2016. Jason Statham and much of the cast joined in August and September 2016.
The film is an American and Chinese co-production. It was considered a full co-production under Chinese regulations, and it was not subject to the same quota system and revenue sharing agreements usually applied to imported films.
Filming
Principal photography on the film began on October 13, 2016, in West Auckland, New Zealand. Filming ended on January 4, 2017, in Sanya City of Hainan, China.
Visual effects
Visual effects were done by Sony Pictures Imageworks, Image Engine, and Scanline VFX. The visual effects team was challenged with designing a previously undiscovered prehistoric giant shark and designing the underwater environments and atmospherics, including realistic coral reefs, bubbles, and other sea life.
Music
Harry Gregson-Williams's score was recorded at Synchron Stage in Vienna, Austria.
3D Conversion
The film was converted to 3D in post-production by Legend3D.
Release
Released by Gravity Pictures in China and Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States, the film was initially scheduled to be released on March 2, 2018. Warner and Gravity then said that the film would be released during the 2018 Chinese New Year period in China, a week-long annual holiday on February 16, 2018. The film was later pushed back from its original release date of March 2, 2018, to August 10, 2018. The studio spent $140 million on global prints and advertisements for the film.
Home media
The Meg was released for digital download on October 30, 2018, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD on November 13. As of August 2020, it is available to stream on Amazon Prime in the United Kingdom as well as Hulu in the United States as of May 2023. It is also available on Amazon Prime in the United States.
Reception
Box office
The Meg grossed $145.4 million in the United States and Canada and $384.8 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $530.2 million, against a production budget between $130–178 million. Deadline Hollywood reported the film needed to gross around $400 million in order to break-even.
In the United States and Canada, it was initially projected to gross $20–22 million from 4,119 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $4 million from Thursday night previews, leading analysts to predict it would outperform its low $20 million projections. After making $16.5 million on its first day, weekend estimates were raised to $40 million. It went on to debut at $45.4 million, topping the box office and marking the best solo opening of Statham's career, as well as Turteltaub's. It made $21.5 million in its second weekend and $13 million in its third, finishing second behind Crazy Rich Asians both times.
The film debuted to $101.5 million from 96 countries in other territories, for a worldwide opening of $146.9 million. In China, a co-producer of the film grossed $50.3 million from 12,650 screens and ranked 3 in the opening weekend. Other top openings were Mexico ($6.2 million), Russia ($5 million), the United Kingdom ($4.4 million), Spain ($2.4 million), and the Philippines ($2 million).
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics consensus reads: "The Meg sets audiences up for a good old-fashioned B-movie creature feature, but lacks the genre thrills—or the cheesy bite—to make it worth diving in." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an average 3 out of 5 stars.
Owen Gleiberman of Variety gave the film a mixed review, calling it "neither good enough—nor bad enough," and writing, "The Meg, a rote sci-fi horror adventure film that features a shark the size of a blue whale, comes on like it wants to be the mother of all deep-sea attack movies. But it's really just the mother of all generically pandering, totally unsurprising Jaws ripoffs."
Scott Mendelson of Forbes was impressed by the film's special effects and called it "a polished B movie that delivers the goods." At the same time, IGN's William Bibbiani praised the performances of the cast, particularly Statham.
Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Simon Abrams said the film was "refreshingly unpretentious" and "a breath of fresh air" compared with the Sharknado series.
Accolades
The Meg won Golden Fleece at the 2018 Golden Trailer Awards, and received nominations for Best Home Ent Horror/Thriller and Best Billboard the following year. It was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award in Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off, or Sequel (as a ripoff of Jaws).
Sequel
In April 2018, Jason Statham said a Meg sequel would happen if the film did well with the public saying, "I think it's like anything in this day and age—if it makes money, there's an appetite to make more money. And if it doesn't do well, they'll soon sweep it under the carpet. But that's the way Hollywood works." That August, Steve Alten said, "My feeling has always been that this is a billion-dollar franchise if it was done right. But to be done right, you had to get the shark right, get the cast right, get the tone right. And Warner Bros. has nailed it completely. The producers have nailed it."
In October 2018, executive producer Catherine Xujun Ying said a sequel was in the early stages of development. In March 2019, a script for the film was in the works. In his September 2020 newsletter, Steve Alten confirmed the script, titled Meg 2: The Trench, was complete, and expressed interest in its "dark" tone. British director Ben Wheatley signed on to direct. In April 2021, Statham said that he believed that filming would begin in January 2022. Production officially began at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden in February 2022, with screenwriters Dean Georgaris, Erich Hoeber, and Jon Hoeber returning, and Statham and Li reprising their roles from the first film. In March 2022, it was announced that the film will be released on August 4, 2023.
See also
Jaws
Deep Blue Sea
Mega Shark
List of natural horror films
List of underwater science fiction works
References
External links
2010s monster movies
2018 science fiction action films
2018 3D films
American action thriller films
American monster movies
American science fiction action films
Di Bonaventura Pictures films
2010s English-language films
Films about sharks
Films based on American thriller novels
Films based on science fiction novels
Films directed by Jon Turteltaub
Films produced by Gerald R. Molen
Films produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Films scored by Harry Gregson-Williams
Films shot in Asia
Films shot in China
Films shot in Hainan
Films shot in New Zealand
Films shot in Shanghai
Films shot in Tokyo
Films set in the future
Films set in Asia
Films set in China
Films set in Hainan
Films set in Thailand
Films set in the Pacific Ocean
Films set in Shanghai
Films set in Tokyo
Flagship Entertainment films
Giant monster films
Fiction about government
Films about shark attacks
Science fiction submarine films
Underwater action films
Warner Bros. films
Meg 1
Films involved in plagiarism controversies
2010s American films