Shark movies — these days, they tend to appeal to a certain niche viewer, one who watched “Shark Week” and thought, “I want that, but in a movie theater.” “The Meg,” starring Jason Statham, however, may be able to move beyond that viewer base with its hint at a slightly more meta take on the shark film.
Featuring the just-go-with-it premise that the prehistoric megalodon did not, in fact, go extinct around 2 million years ago, and has instead been discovered off the coast of China, “The Meg” is based on Steve Alten’s 1997 book, “The Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror.”
The trailer, cut to a tone-setting “Beyond the Sea” and with the tagline “Chomp on this,” begins with the occupants of an underwater marine research vessel encountering the meg, and proceeds to preview the inevitable movement of the giant shark towards human-infested beaches, with Statham filling the role of researcher-turned-lead-shark-fighter. Rainn Wilson, as a fellow researcher, delivers plenty of quips, suggesting that rather than kill the fish, the team “just put a tracker on it.”
“Haven’t you ever seen Shark Week?” he asks.
Unsurprisingly, it seems like a tracker won’t cut it.
Ruby Rose, Li Bingbing, Cliff Curtis, Winston Chao, Robert Taylor, and Jessica McNamee also star. John Turteltaub directed the Warner Bros. film from a script by Dean Georgaris.
“The Meg” hits theaters in August 2018.
Watch the full trailer above.
