The thought of a filmmaker like Ben Wheatley taking the helm of a blockbuster with a budget that’s more than likely going to be $150 million at the very least seemed unthinkable until he signed on to direct Jason Statham’s giant shark sequel The Meg 2 in October of last year.
After all, the first effort cost more than Wheatley’s entire filmography combined by some distance, and his back catalogue didn’t mark him out as the obvious choice to tackle an effects-driven PG-13 studio project. All of the 48 year-old’s previous movies have taken place in distinctly different genres, with his upcoming psychological horror In the Earth being described in such terms as existential, psychedelic, nightmarish, metaphysical and more.
That’s exactly what makes him such an inspired yet risky choice on Warner Bros.’ part, at least if they allow him to put his own stamp on the proceedings. And having already teased action on a massive scale, Wheatley has now hinted that The Meg 2 could feature more than one of the titular prehistoric beasts.
“I don’t think I can say at the moment what’s going on, the ins and outs of it. But guaranteed, there will be a Megalodon, maybe more than one.”
Any self-respecting sequel is always going to have to raise the bar in terms of scale and spectacle, so having multiple giant sharks terrorizing Statham and the rest of the cannon fodder cast is the next logical progression. Godzilla vs. Kong‘s success at the box office even in the midst of the COVID-19 era has shown very recently that audiences are more than willing to lap up creature features if they’re handled with enough style and panache, and you can guarantee that both the WB boardroom and Wheatley himself have been watching the movie’s progress closely, because with the MonsterVerse at a crossroads, The Meg 2 will be the company’s next massive monster mash.