Jason Statham's action-thriller 'The Meg' threequel gets disappointing update
In what comes as a dampener, Jason Statham's 'The Meg' is unlikely to see a third film. The two previous films centering on Statham's character, Jonas, taking on giant megadolons, hit screens in 2018 and 2023. The first one was an adaptation of Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, directed by Jon Turteltaub. The second film was directed by Ben Wheatley. While there were speculations of a third film, the movie is not yet okayed to go on floors.
Speaking to The Direct, Wheatley, who was promoting his latest work, 'Normal', had a rather dismal update. When asked about 'The Meg' and a potential follow-up, "I don't know," he said, while also adding, "I'm sure the Meg itself, it's out there swimming. There's a massive, dark shadow in the sea. But I don't know what's going on [with a third movie]." But Wheatley had a hilarious follow-up to the update: "What I want to do is have The Meg being researched for military purposes, and it gets up on land, with legs."
The first film opened to mixed reviews, but the second film was not a box office success, critically or commercially. 'The Meg' raked in the moolah, making $529 million worldwide. 'The Trench' was a damp squib with just $397.8 million worldwide. Per Rotten Tomatoes, the critical consensus read, "It isn't without its fun moments, but Meg 2: The Trench suffers from a disjointed story that drifts for too long before finally delivering a few campy thrills."
Earlier, Statham had shed light on the first film, spawning a string of sequels. After 'The Meg's release, he was asked about the future of the franchise. "Well, I think it’s like anything in this day and age," he told EW. "If it makes money, there’s obviously an appetite to make more money. And if it doesn’t do well, they’ll soon sweep it under the carpet. But that’s the way Hollywood works. Everyone tries to make a good film, and it lies in the hands of the audience. People are the ultimate decider; the audience is the decider of whether anything gets to be a sequel or not."
