Jason Statham and Li Bingbing's shark tale thriller is going to be a solid hit even with its $130m budget.

With 'The Meg,' Jason Statham Succeeded Where Dwayne Johnson, Matt Damon And Vin Diesel Failed

As of this writing, The Meg has earned around $6.05 million on Tuesday, rising a solid 33% from Monday and bringing its five-day total to $56m. At a glance, we're probably looking at a first-week gross of over/under $65m, with the hopes that the surprisingly solid opening weekend and decent audience buzz will allow it to join Mission: Impossible - Fallout as the summer closer. Amusingly, the chief competition this weekend is Crazy Rich Asians, which is also a Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc. release. No matter, unless it collapses here and abroad, Jason Statham and Li Bingbing's shark tale thriller is going to be a solid hit even with its $130m budget. And in that sense, it may be the first modern case of a big-budget live-action Hollywood/China co-production that was a success on both coasts.

No, it's not remotely the first big Hollywood movie that has been successful in China and North America. But in terms of movies that were, for all intents and purposes Chinese productions with a major Hollywood distributor, The Meg is in rare territory. Yes, Paramount/Viacom Inc.'s xXx: Return of Xander Cage was tailored to the Chinese marketplace. But the Vin Diesel action sequel cost just $85 million and flopped in North America. It earned most of its $346m global cume outside of America. Legendary and Universal twice tried this gambit and twice struck out. Warcraft was expected to hit big in China, and it did, for a week. The film was incredibly frontloaded and earned $90m in the first 48 hours and yet just $223m overall in China. But it made less than $50m in North America and its $165m budget (plus marketing) rendered even its $433m global cume something of a wash.

They tried again in late 2016/early 2017 with Zhan Yimou's The Great Wall. The Matt Damon action fantasy, wrongly tagged pre-release as a whitewashed/white savior story in the states (it was exactly the opposite, using its white guy hero to tell an "East >> West" melodrama), earned a decent $170 million in China when it opened in December of 2016. But it stumbled elsewhere, including just $45m in North America when it opened here in February of 2017. Doing well enough in China isn't good enough when A) the movie cost $150m and B) it only performed-to-expectations in China. I like the movie, but it was an example of studios targeting American and Chinese audiences and pleasing neither marketplace.

Ditto Pacific Rim: Uprising which earned $100 million+ in China but bombed almost everywhere else, including a $59m gross in North America. And, relatively speaking, ditto with Dwayne Johnson's Skyscraper which earned less in North America than The First Purge and did merely okay outside of China. So with a $125m gross and mediocre reviews/buzz, even a $98m total in China can't make it into a massive win. It's a minor disappointment, as opposed to a disaster, but it's another example of a movie tailored to China (it takes place in Shanghai and features many Chinese supporting characters) not breaking out on both sides of the isle.

In general, I have argued that the movies that score big in North America and China are often distinctly American movies (Ready Player One, Zootopia, etc.) or franchises that have gained a foothold in China (the MCU, Fast and Furious, not Star Wars, etc.). To the extent that Chinese audiences are flocking to the likes of non-fantasies like Dying to Survive and arguably "foreign"  films like Coco and Dangal, it doesn't do much good to have a big movie that feels aggressively pandering to the Chinese marketplace. In a world where Operation Red Sea and Detective Chinatown 2 can top $500 million in China alone, the audience doesn't need to embrace pandering Hollywood biggies for big-scale cinematic thrills.

Ironically, the one prior example of a successful co-production was STX's The Foreigner. Martin Campbell's Jackie Chan/Pierce Brosnan action thriller, about a man pursuing the IRA terrorists who killed his daughter, was cheap enough (around $35 million) that a mere $35m domestic total, combined with its $81m Chinese gross (not bad for a bleak and action-light R-rated thriller) made it a big hit for STX and Wanda Pictures (among others).  If the movie had cost $150m, a $145m global cume would have been a disaster. And since The Meg did in-fact cost between $130m and $178m (depending on who you ask), it matters that it isn't just (pending post-debut legs) a hit in China.

The film was financed by the likes of Warner Bros. and Maeday Pictures. WB and friends get 40% of the Chinese box office instead of the normal 25%. The film was sold as "Jason Statham versus a giant dino-shark" in North America. It also had a Chinese co-lead (Li Bingbing) and takes place in and around China. The closest thing the movie has to a villain is Rainn Wilson's tech zillionaire, so you don't have to play the "You think the Chinese company is evil but it turns out they really aren't!" game that felled Uprising and Skyscraper. And like a number of big Chinese productions (think Renny Harlin's Jackie Chan/Johnny Knoxville action comedy), The Meg was helmed by a guy (Jon Turteltaub) who was a big-deal big-movie Hollywood director in the 1990's or 2000's.

And, yeah, the Chinese/Hollywood co-production opened with $50.3 million in China and $45.3m in North America, a massive domestic overperformance. There are plenty of good reasons why this mega-budget shark thriller isn't relying on China to save its butt. It may have been sold in a wink-wink Snakes on a Plane fashion, but it offered enough "Don't worry, this is a real movie and not a camp fest" appeal to make sure folks didn't think they were being asked to fork over money for a knowingly bad flick. And it capitalized both on the public's appetite for shark thrillers and a general fondness toward Jason Statham that doesn't necessarily extend to his smaller, R-rated action movies. But no matter the reason, the fact remains that, barring a post-debut plunge here and abroad, The Meg may be the first of its kind. It's a Chinese/Hollywood big-budget production that is a hit on both coasts.

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The Meg shocks box office analysts with a huge opening weekend

The Meg, a movie about a ginormous shark menacing Jason Statham and a bunch of scientists in the deep ocean, has wildly outperformed box office expectations, raking $44 million domestically and another $97 million overseas, according to Box Office Mojo, to give Warner Bros. a surprise hit late in the summer moviegoing season.

The monster movie is the week’s biggest grossing flick in North America, surpassing the third weekend of Mission Impossible — Fallout, the sixth installation of Paramount’s popcorn-movie franchise. That now stands at $161 million (estimated) domestically.

The Meg is Warner Bros.’ best weekend debut of the year, even over bigger-name and bigger-publicized films like Ready Player One and Ocean’s 8, both of which took in $41 million in their March and June openings, respectively.

Mission: Impossible held the top slot at the box office from its July 27 premiere date until Aug. 9, with The Meg taking over from its Aug. 10 debut to now.

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‘The Meg’ – An outrageously fun, pulse-pounding thrill ride

Something very big is about to rise from the ocean’s unfathomable depths to seriously rock Warner Bros. Pictures’ new sci-fi action thriller “The Meg.”

That very big something is the titular creature – a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark – in “The Meg,” a pulse-pounding thrill ride and outrageously fun movie event that combines action and humor and pits action superstar Jason Statham in a head-to-head battle with a mammoth megalodon.

Large-scale action is familiar territory to director Jon Turteltaub, who previously helmed blockbuster adventures like “National Treasure” and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”

The Meg — or, to give it its full name, Carcharocles megalodon — was a species of shark that lived on seals, giant turtles and whales until its extinction around 2.6 million years ago. It was a true monster, so huge it would have made the great white in Steven Spielberg’s seminal summer movie “Jaws” look like a minnow. It certainly captured the imagination of author Steve Alten, who wrote a science-fiction novel that envisioned the return of such a creature to modern-day waters, published in July 1997 as Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror. It was a success, and five sequels followed.

Instrumental in getting “The Meg” made into an event motion picture was producer Belle Avery, who after reading the novel instantly thought: “This is a great popcorn movie. People like to go see monster movies, but if those monsters are real creatures that actually existed, I think you’re much more ahead of the game, because people want to go and see what they looked like.”

Deciding what the Meg looked like was not quite as straightforward as you might imagine. “One school of thought was to make it look like a 75-foot-long great white,” says Turteltaub. “Because when you look at a great white, an audience instantly goes, ‘Uh oh!’ And a 75-foot ‘Uh oh!’ is pretty scary. But, I wanted to create a shark that was a little less developed, a little less perfect, a little uglier and more specific to what life might have been like deep in the ocean three million years ago.”

The novel theorized that megalodons could have survived extinction by moving to the warmer, high-pressure depths of ocean-floor ravines like the Mariana Trench. And in this movie, it is in such an abyss that the terrifying Meg is discovered by a high-tech Chinese deep-sea exploration operation named Zhang Oceanic, overseen by Li Bingbing’s character, Suyin. It won’t be long before the Meg finds its way back up to the surface waters, which are now filled with a tasty new snack: humanity.

For Turteltaub, the appeal was to sink his teeth into “an entire movie genre I’d never worked in. I get to play in a whole new sandbox, so to speak, with a whole bunch of different movie rules. I like the pure fun of it. And I also like the challenge of making a Jason Statham action movie with no car chases, no fist fights or guns,” he adds with a laugh.

“Jerry Bruckheimer warned me about making undersea movies,” says Turteltaub, referring to his producer on the “National Treasure” movies and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” who had plenty experience of his own filming on water with the “Pirates of The Caribbean” movies. “As soon as you go underwater, everything moves very slowly and is not conducive to action. I’ve had Jerry’s voice in my head the whole time, ready to say, ‘I told you so’. So, we had to work out how to keep things exciting with that challenge. And the way to do that was to mix up what’s underwater and what isn’t, while also building on the element of surprise and playing on what you can’t see. At any moment something really, really scary can happen. And that keeps the audience on edge.”

Diving into Philippine cinemas nationwide August 8, The Meg will be released in 2D, 3D and 4D in select theaters, as well as in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and other large premium formats. The film is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.

About “The Meg”

In the film, a deep-sea submersible—part of an international undersea observation program—has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific…with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer (Winston Chao), against the wishes of his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing), to save the crew—and the ocean itself—from this unstoppable threat: a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon. What no one could have imagined is that, years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying creature. Now, teamed with Suyin, he must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below…bringing him face to face once more with the greatest and largest predator of all time.

Rounding out the international main cast of “The Meg” are Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Page Kennedy, Jessica McNamee, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Robert Taylor, Sophia Shuya Cai, Masi Oka and Cliff Curtis.

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Warner Bros. has released new hi-res stills from The Meg, teasing the terrifying giant shark.

It may seem like the Megalodon might just be too much for the film’s protagonist team to take on. But with Jason Statham playing the lead, fans are looking forward to seeing The Transporter actor battle the gigantic apex predator.
In Empire’s recent issue, Statham shared his excitement in being part of The Meg movie. Moreover, he also seems to be confident about the movie’s ability to pull in the audience.

“I mean, who doesn’t want to watch a movie about the biggest shark that’s ever existed? And I get to be in it? This is as good as it gets,” said Statham. The stills below were first shared by Empire magazine.

Chomp on this! The Meg International Poster

The MEG Poster is here!

The first official trailer for director Jon Turteltaub’s hotly anticipated mega shark flick The Meg will be dropping TONIGHT at 9pm EST! Warner Bros. Pictures will release The Meg on August 10, 2018.

Steve Alten Praises The Meg Trailer As Excellent!

The original author of The Meg has seen the trailers for the upcoming Jason Statham shark movie based on his books, and has been suitably impressed. Posting on social media, writer Steve Alten confirms that the trailers are complete and that they are “excellent.” He also gives a reason for the delay in their release and teases the arrival of the first official poster, which he promises is nothing like the covers of his novels.

The film is based on Alten’s first novel about the giant Megalodon shark who menaces divers and scientists. It was published in 1997 and titled Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror. The book spawned an ongoing franchise, with the sixth novel due later this year. A film was originally mooted for the first book almost as soon as it was published, but remained in development hell for many years. Production only moved forward significantly when Jason Statham was confirmed as the lead, and filming started in 2016. It was originally marked for a theatrical release on March 2, 2018, but was then delayed to a summer release in August. There have been some on-set images and photos, but no official footage has yet been seen. However the trailer was recently tapped to drop sometime during April, giving us our first glimpse of the massive shark in action. 

“I’ve actually seen the two trailers and they are excellent. The powers-that-be decided it would be best to delay their launch from late March until April. The reason has to do with analytics and if the viewing audience sees a trailer too early and then the movie comes out much later, they are left with a false impression that the movie had already been out… What is important is that the trailers are finished and they WILL come out in April…. Also debuting in April will be the movie poster. I’ve seen the mock-up and I really like it. It features an angle of the MEG that has never appeared on one of my MEG covers.”

While it’s unlikely that Alten would openly criticize any of the marketing at the moment, it is encouraging that he praises what he’s seen so far. There is some speculation that the first trailer may arrive around the same time as monster movie Rampage opens in theaters. They are both Warner Bros. movies and it would make sense to promote The Meg to the same audience.

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While sharks continue to dominate on home media and TV screens, with the likes of the sixth Sharknado movie and Deep Blue Sea 2, The Meg stands alone this year as a bigger-budgeted film of this particular sub-genre and that may work well in its favor. Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) is a solid director of action movies, and Statham is sure to bring his own reliable brand of thrills and humor to the story, as the heroic deep sea diver Jonas Taylor. The cast also includes Ruby Rose (John Wick: Chapter Three) and Rainn Wilson (The Office).

DABEL BROTHERS PLANS 'MEG'-A TIE-IN

Dabel Brothers will be releasing a comic book tie-in for the Jason Statham-starring film MEG.  Steve Alten, who wrote the novel on which the film is based, is writing the six-issue series. The first issue will ship in April.

The comic, book, and film center on Jonas Taylor, who finds himself face-to-face with the largest predator in the history of the animal kingdom: Carcharodon megalodon, an immense (not so) extinct species of shark that is closely related to the great white.

Jon Turtletaub (National Treasure) is directing the film, with Statham starring as Taylor. The film also stars Cliff Curtis (Fear the Walking Dead), Masi Oka (Heroes), Ruby Rose (John Wick: Chapter 2), and Bibgbing Li (Transformers: Age of Extinction).

Dabel Brothers announced last week that it would release a comic series based on Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles, which the publisher will distribute to comic stores itself (see "Dabel Brothers to Launch 'Iron Druid Chronicles' Comic").

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'The Meg': Jason Statham And Cast Assemble In New Photo

Warner Bros. has released a new look at The Meg, the action-slash-horror that will pit The Fate of the Furious star Jason Statham against a 75-foot-long Carcharodon megalodon.

The photo sees Statham's Jonas Taylor take center alongside cast members Page Kennedy (DJ), Ruby Rose (Jaxx Herd), Li Bingbing (Suyin), and Cliff Curtis (James 'Mac' Mackreides).

Rainn Wilson (The Office), Robert Taylor (Kong: Skull Island), Masi Oka (Death Note), and Jessica McNamee (Battle of the Sexes) co-star.

Based on author Steve Alten's 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, The Meg sees a deep-sea submersible attacked by a massive creature that was previously believed to be extinct.

With its crew trapped inside as the submersible lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific, expert deep-sea rescue diver Taylor is recruited by visionary Chinese ocreanographer Dr. Minway Zhang (Winston Chao) to save the crew — and the ocean itself — from the unstoppable over-sized shark.

Taylor, who encountered the terrifying creature years before, will team with Suyin and must confront his fears to save everyone trapped below — bringing him face to face once more with the greatest and largest predator of all time.

Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) directs from a script by Erich and Jon Hoeber (Battleship).

The Meg has been in the works since Disney purchased the rights in 1997.

Warner Bros. revived the project in 2015, eyeing Hostel and Knock Knock filmmaker Eli Roth to direct. Turteltaub boarded in 2016, originally prepping The Meg for a March 2018 debut.

The Meg swims into theaters August 10.


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Warner Bros. has now released an official synopsis for The Meg and fans can relish the guilty pleasure that it promises.

Details regarding the WB monster movie have been pretty sparse up until now. Since the ‘Mega-Shark Vs. Jason Statham’ saw its release date pushed back to Summer 2018, the only notable update has been that the title has undergone a slight change and is now The Meg instead of simply Meg.

The Meg is an adaptation of the 1997 Steve Alten novel about a surviving prehistoric Megalodon shark, which surfaces from the Mariana Trench. The book was so successful that it resulted in 5 literary sequels and an ongoing franchise. Tentative development plans were made for a Hollywood film as soon as it was published, with directors like Jan de Bont (Speed) and Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water) linked to it in the early stages. Eli Roth was then onboard to shoot it, but it ultimately fell to National Treasure director Jon Turteltaub to helm it. Statham was then recruited to play the role of main protagonist and expert diver, Jonas Taylor.

The basic premise of action-hero Statham facing-off against a massive shark pretty much sells itself, but a full official synopsis of the adaptation has now been made available online by WB. You can read the whole plot summary below:

    “A deep-sea submersible – part of an international undersea observation program – has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific… with its crew trapped inside.  With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer (Winston Chao), against the wishes of his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing), to save the crew – and the ocean itself – from this unstoppable threat: a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon.  What no one could have imagined is that, years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying creature.  Now, teamed with Suyin, he must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below… bringing him face to face once more with the greatest and largest predator of all time.”

Along with Statham, the movie also costars Jessica McNamee (Battle of the Sexes), Ruby Rose (John Wick: Chapter Two), and Rainn Wilson (The Office). Along with the recent title change, it has been confirmed that the movie will be a PG-13 affair, meaning that graphic gore and f-bombing will be absent from the plot. Of course, when you’ve got a shark capable of eating a boat, Jaws-like injuries aren’t really an ongoing concern.

The Meg completed principal photography back in January of this year, so hopefully all the post-production work and delay will make for a good-looking monster movie once it hits the theaters. Statham himself has described it as being ‘a cross between Jaws and Jurassic Park’, and also ‘really good’. At any rate, the eclectic cast and SFX should ensure that it’s a bite above the plethora of SyFy channel movies and other Jaws rip-offs that have been released over the years. It could just a film to keep an eye on when it arrives next summer on August 10, 2018.

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When ‘Based on a True Story’ Becomes a Lawsuit

A judge has greenlit a trial for author Gerald Brittle against Warner Bros. for the rights to paranormal specialists Ed and Lorraine Warren’s story, specifically the events featured in his book “The Demonologist” and The Conjuring movie franchise. Claiming the rights to a true event seems like a bold move, but this case is a convoluted one. However, Warner Bros. could have avoided this huge lawsuit.

Before writing his book in 1978, Brittle made an agreement with the Warrens that for the rights to their story, there cannot be any “competing work,” which included movies. This provision in their book deal is still in effect today but Brittle was never asked for permission to use the events in his book in The Conjuring. Instead, the producers went directly to Lorraine Warren, who gave her okay.

Warner Bros. explanation for their disregard for Brittle’s book deal is that one person cannot have “a monopoly to tell stories about true-life figures and events.” The Conjuring claims what happens in the film is based on real events of the Warren files, but Brittle begs to differ.

There is no historical evidence of the witch, Satanic child sacrifices, and even possession that is featured in the movie. Those events take place in Brittle’s book, which he says the Warrens fabricated (unbeknownst to Brittle at the time of writing the book). So Brittle argues that the movie is based on his book instead of facts. He even goes into arguing that the production company told screenwriters not to read his book because they didn’t have the rights to it. How Brittle would know that is unclear.

This will be a tough case to decide on, especially since the subject matter is paranormal activities that can’t be truly proven. With that in mind, it might have been smarter on Warner Bros.’ part to cut the “based on historical events” claim, fictionalizing the story altogether. What makes the film interesting was apparently fiction anyway.

Without connecting itself to the Warrens’ case, The Conjuring is a movie filled with horror tropes and stories that have been told before. Horror films have been dealing with demonic possession, haunted families, and exorcisms long before The Conjuring franchise. Those things aren’t unique to the Warrens. Therefore without the Warrens’ name and the claim that the events are based on truth, The Conjuring could have been just as scary and successful as a regular fictional horror film without all this legal trouble.

Real events inspire horror movies all the time, but filmmakers can get away with making movies about them by not claiming any connection to them. Stating that a movie based on possession and ghosts is a true story should be taken with a grain of salt anyway, considering it’s very hard to prove those things are even real.

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Just a little longer ...

Warner Bros. has moved back “Meg” to Aug. 10, 2018. It was previously dated for March 2, 2018.

Warner Bros. has moved back Jason Statham’s prehistoric giant shark thriller “Meg” to Aug. 10, 2018.

It was previously dated for March 2, 2018, and would have opened against an untitled Fox/Marvel film. The movie will be released in 3D and Imax. “National Treasure” helmer Jon Turteltaub is directing the film with Chinese actress Li Bingbing co-starring with Jessica McNamee, Ruby Rose, and Rainn Wilson. Shooting began in New Zealand last fall.

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MEG Production Set to Begin August 29, 2016!

Fan Bingbing  Courtesy of Warner Bros.; Courtesy of Apelles Publishing

Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, who appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past, joins Jason Statham in Meg, the creature feature being made by Warner Bros. and Chinese company Gravity Pictures.

At the same time, Warner Bros. has set a March 2, 2018, release date for the pic, which will be directed Jon Turteltaub, best known as helmer of the National Treasure movies. Gravity will distribute the film in China, while Warners will release it throughout the rest of the world.

Dean Georgaris wrote the latest script for the project, which has been swimming upstream for 20 years in order to adapt the book by Steve Alten. It centers on a Carcharodon Megalodon, the 70-foot, 40-ton prehistoric kin to the great white shark.

The studio put forth the plot of Meg as such:

An international underwater observation program, led by Chinese scientists, is under attack by an unknown danger, and its deep-sea submersible lies disabled and trapped at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. With time running out, former Naval Captain and expert deep sea diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) is recruited by Dr. Zhang Suyin, lead oceanographer of the program, for what is likely a suicide mission. 
Years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying threat, which forced him to abort his mission and abandon half his crew, resulting in disgrace and a dishonorable discharge. Now, Taylor must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below … bringing him face to face once more with the apex predator of all time.

Fan’s next English-language movie is Skiptrace, the Renny Harlin-directed action movie starring Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville.

“Meg” Adds Cast

Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, who appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past, has joined Jason Statham in Meg, the creature feature being made by Warner Bros. and Chinese company Gravity Pictures, The Hollywood Reporter reveals.

At the same time, Warner Bros. has set a March 2, 2018, release date for the pic, which will be directed Jon Turteltaub, best known as helmer of the National Treasure movies. Gravity will distribute the film in China, while Warners will release it throughout the rest of the world.

Dean Georgaris wrote the latest script for the project, which has been swimming upstream for 20 years in order to adapt the book by Steve Alten. It centers on a Carcharodon Megalodon, the 70-foot, 40-ton prehistoric kin to the great white shark.

The studio put forth the plot of Meg as such:

An international underwater observation program, led by Chinese scientists, is under attack by an unknown danger, and its deep-sea submersible lies disabled and trapped at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. With time running out, former Naval Captain and expert deep sea diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) is recruited by Dr. Zhang Suyin, lead oceanographer of the program, for what is likely a suicide mission.

Years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying threat, which forced him to abort his mission and abandon half his crew, resulting in disgrace and a dishonorable discharge. Now, Taylor must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below … bringing him face to face once more with the apex predator of all time.

‘Meg’ Gets 2018 Release Date

BabiradPicture/REX/Shutterstock

Warner Bros. has set a March 2, 2018, release date for its prehistoric giant shark thriller “Meg.”

“National Treasure” helmer Jon Turtletaub will direct the film and Jason Statham will star with Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.

The film will be co-financed by Flagship Entertainment; Gravity Pictures, a division of China Media Capital (CMC); and Warner Bros. Gravity Pictures will distribute the film in China, with Warner Bros. handling the film throughout the rest of the world.

The story is based on Steve Alten’s novel “MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror,” published in 1997 with the title derived from the ancient Megalodon species that has survived while being trapped in the Mariana Trench due to a barrier of cold water.

The “Meg” movie is centered on an international underwater observation program, led by Chinese scientists, being under attack by an unknown danger with its deep-sea submersible disabled and trapped at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Statham will portray a former Naval captain and expert deep-sea diver, who’s recruited for a likely suicide mission — even though he faced the predator years before and was forced him to abort his mission and abandon half his crew.

Statham came on to the project in April. Principal photography will begin later this year in China and New Zealand.

Warner, CMC announce 12-movie package that includes MEG

Jon Turteltaub in talks to direct. 

After forming joint venture Flagship Entertainment in Hong Kong in September last year, Warner Bros. and China Media Capital (CMC) have announced plans for the production and global release of a dozen movies under the Flagship Entertainment banner over the coming two years. Chinese news website china.org.cn reported Warner Bros. chairman Kevin Tsujihara as saying the high-quality co-productions would appeal to a wide demographic of audiences both in China and around the world.

According to CMC chairman Li Ruigang, the film package would include an adaptation of best-selling science-fiction novel MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten and cost over $100 million to produce. MEG tells the story of a deep-sea diver who while diving in the Mariana Trench is attacked by what he believes to be a megalodon, a gigantic predecessor of modern sharks thought to have been extinct since the Pleistocene era. Nobody believes him, but as the events unfold he encounters more of the creatures, some of which manage to make their way to the surface and wreak havoc.

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