Imagine a really big shark. No, bigger than that. Really big. I can guarantee that whatever you’re picturing would still be but a snack for the gargantuan menace of The Meg. This upcoming shark caper is the next project from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and National Treasure: Book of Secrets director John Turteltaub, who sounds like he’s way overdue changing his name to John Sharkeltaub.
Based on Steve Alten’s 1997 book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, the movie follows the crew of a deep sea submersible as they’re menaced by a giant, hungry monster. Said monster turns out to be a prehistoric Megalodon (hence ‘The Meg’), and its colossal razor-sharp jaws leave the sub trapped on the ocean floor. Only one man can face down ‘The Meg’ and save the crew, and he comes in the form of Jason Statham.
He’s got a past beef with this shark, having encountered it many years ago while working as a US Navy deep sea diver. Back then, it ate the rest of his buddies and now, it’s time to settle the score. To do this, though, he’ll have to team up with “the daughter of a visionary Chinese oceanographer” named Suyin (Li Bingbing) and presumably kill a really big fish that conveniently embodies all his personal demons.
To date, we haven’t seen a whole lot of the film, but it looks as if the promotional campaign is about to get going as today, we got this brand new pic featuring most of the main cast, which you can see down below along with a photo that dropped a few days back:
Look, it’s a pretty safe bet that The Meg isn’t going to be troubling the Academy this time next year. You could even argue that the whole really, really big shark thing is a bit played out after The Asylum’s Sharknado films and the ongoing Mega Shark saga (he was last seen fighting ‘Mecha Shark’).
However, that being said, I personally am not so burnt out that I can’t enjoy a goofy giant shark movie every now and then. Let’s just hope that The Meg has enough bite to separate it from the rest of the pack when it swims into theaters on August 10th.