Jason Statham has not only confirmed that he will return for the Ben Wheatley-directed sequel to the 2018 sharksploitation blockbuster The Meg, but he has also revealed when the film will begin production.
“We’re gonna start shooting in January, if I get my dates right. Ben Wheatley is the director, I’m very excited to work with him,” Statham said in an interview with Collider while promoting Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man. “I’m thrilled to get going, it’s been a while. We’ve been waiting around for the right scripts to come in and the right director to turn up, and we’ve got all those things and they’re all stacked up now.”
Wheatley has recently stated that he intends to honour the scope of the titular Megalodon shark from the first film as well as adding his own style to the sequel.
“A lot of it is respecting The Meg, and trying to make sure it’s a great Meg film,” Wheatley said. “And as you can see from the movies I’ve made, they’re not necessarily, it’s not … when you go and do Doctor Who, I don’t completely change it because I wanted to do it. I didn’t want to necessarily make it something completely different that nobody recognized, you know? So there’s that element of back and forth.”
The first movie, which was an adaptation of the novel by Steve Alten, saw Statham portraying Jonas Taylor, a rescue diver who finds himself pitted against a giant prehistoric Megalodon shark. Despite mixed reviews, The Meg was a hit with audiences worldwide after grossing $530 million. Details on the upcoming sequel are currently being kept under wraps.
