An 80-foot prehistoric shark is returning to the big screen with “The Meg 2,” and Warner Bros. has hired “Rebecca” filmmaker Ben Wheatley to direct.
Development of the sequel comes two years after “The Meg” took in an impressive $530 million worldwide. That film revolved around the monstrous megalodon emerging from the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world’s oceans in the Pacific.
Jason Statham is expected to reprise his role from the first movie, in which he portrayed a U.S. Navy diver sent to rescue other divers from a shark attack. Statham was a world-class diver on the British Commonwealth team before becoming an actor.
Jon and Erich Hoeber wrote the most recent draft of the script, working off an initial draft by Dean Georgaris. The trio shared writing credits on the original. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Belle Avery are returning as producers. Avery worked on getting “The Meg” made for a decade, finally securing Chinese financing after making two dozen trips to China. Executive producers on the sequel are Catherine Ying, Li Ruigang, E. Bennett Walsh, Gerald Molen and Randy Greenberg.
Jon Turteltaub directed “The Meg,” which was based on Steve Alten’s 1997 book “Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror.” Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson and Ruby Rose also starred.
Wheatley’s directorial credits include “Sightseers,” “Kill List,” “High Rise” and “Free Fire,” which starred Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy and Armie Hammer. Netflix hired Wheatley in 2018 to direct a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca,” starring Hammer as Maxim de Winter, Lily James as Mrs. de Winter, and Kristin Scott Thomas as the evil housekeeper Mrs. Danvers.
Wheatley is repped by WME and Independent Talent Group.