The future of the Meg movie franchise, starring Jason Statham, is uncertain despite the success of the first two films. While the original Meg was a box office hit, the sequel The Trench saw diminishing returns. Director Ben Wheatley expressed uncertainty about a third installment, although he did share an outlandish idea for it. The lack of a greenlight for Meg 3 suggests producers may be cautious due to the declining box office performance.
The Jason Statham movies, which center on his character Jonas fighting giant prehistoric megalodons, kicked off in 2018 with an adaptation of Steve Alten's 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror. The original installment, which was directed by Jon Turteltaub, was an enormous hit, grossing $529 million against a reported budget of roughly $175 million.
The movie's 2023 sequel The Trench, which was directed by Ben Wheatley, grossed $398.5 million against a lower reported budget of about $140 million, bringing the franchise's overall gross to nearly $1 billion. However, the possible The Meg 3 has not yet been greenlit. The Direct recently sat down with Ben Wheatley while he was promoting his new movie Normal at SXSW. During the interview, the conversation turned toward The Meg, following up on comments that the director had made in 2023 about looking forward to the movie potentially getting a follow-up. However, he said that"I don't know" if there is a sequel in the works, 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 ." However, he did share an idea for The Meg 3, joking that"what I want to do is have The Meg being researched for military purposes, and it gets up on land, with legs." Given the fact that two different directors helmed the first installments in the franchise, it is possible that a third installment in the Jason Statham movie franchise is being developed without the involvement of Wheatley. However, producers may be holding off on rushing The Meg 3 considering the franchise's diminishing box office returns. Meg 2: The Trench was not a flop by any measure. Because movies typically need to earn two and a half times their budgets, it probably only needed to earn $350 million in order to break even in theaters. It surpassed that total by $50 million as it rose to become the 19th highest-grossing movie of 2023 worldwide, beating prominent titles including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny , The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes , Five Nights at Freddy's , and Creed III , and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour . However, if The Meg 3 cost a similar amount and had diminishing returns to the same degree that The Trench had from the first installment, it might only make $300 million, falling shy of its break-even point. While this fate could potentially be avoided by spending less money, it would be more or less impossible to significantly reduce the budget, given the costs of bringing a prehistoric shark to life onscreen in the Jason Statham sequel. Subscribe to the newsletter for Meg franchise updates Curious about the Meg franchise's future? Subscribe to our newsletter for focused coverage of box-office performance, sequel prospects, and streaming moves that will shape the series, offering actionable analysis that helps you understand studio decisions and sequel odds. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. In an attempt to avoid this, producers may be trying to make a longer gap between The Meg movies in order to build anticipation for a third installment and prevent it from meeting a similar fate to the second movie. However, that would mean waiting at least another three years before bringing another sequel to the big screen. They may also be waiting for a sign that the first two The Meg movies are experiencing a resurgence. This could very well happen once the original movie finds a new streaming home. While Meg 2 is available on HBO Max in the United States, its immediate predecessor is not currently available on free or subscription streaming. The Meg Created by Steve Alten, Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Dean Georgaris First Film The Meg Latest Film The Meg 2: The Trench Cast Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Cliff Curtis, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Page Kennedy, Masi Oka, Shuya Sophia Cai, Wu Jing Movie The Meg, The Meg 2: The Trench Character Jonas Taylor, Dr. Suyin Zhang, Mac Mackreides, DJ , Jiuming Zhang, Lori Taylor, Meiying Zhang, Montes
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