The Meg made a lot of money in its theatrical run earlier this year, pulling in more than $527 million dollars at the worldwide box office. Considering its budget was only $130 million, signing on for The Meg 2 may seem like a no brainer. However, it only now looks as if Warner Bros. is getting the sequel off of the ground.
Currently, The Meg 2 is in the works over at Warner Bros. Executive producer Catherine Xujun Ying announced there is a plan to make a second movie in the works at the studio, although she revealed at the U.S.-China Entertainment Summit (via Deadline) that the project is pretty secret for now.
It's still in the very early stages, but we're working on it. We're trying to keep it secret at this time.
A sequel would make sense. The Meg's large box office intake is actually successful in a more important way. It's actually the most successful co-collaboration between U.S. and Chinese studios in totality. The fact that the movie worked for a U.S. audience alongside a broader worldwide audience may have helped propel the flick to such high numbers overall.
Luckily, The Meg creative team has been happy to talk about the possibility of a sequel. Previously, we learned from The Meg's writer Steve Alten that there are myriad other oceanic creatures that a sequel could potentially explore. Jon Turtletaub also told CinemaBlend that he just doesn't want to fall into the trapper of upping up the ante in a stupid way for the sequel. He said:
But where would you go? Hopefully not the route other bad sequels go and just start making things bigger. It's Uber Meg and Mega Megs, and all of that. Oh my god.
The Meg is based on a book series written by Steve Alten. The first Jonas Taylor-based story is mostly about the Megaladon, but subsequent novels follow other creatures. The Terror features the Kronosaurus, a large whale called a Livyatan, a snake called Titanoba, and even a T-rex in a prologue in one of the books. Clearly, Alten is more interested in the sea creatures than the land creatures, and presumably The Meg's movie sequels would be too.
Still, while there are tons of directions The Meg 2 could go in and Warner Bros. is taking its time getting the movie together. So far, the "secret" project doesn't have screenwriters and we don't know if Jon Turtletaub would want to come back to direct. All in all though, it looks like The Meg 2 is definitely happening, even if there are some questions that still need to be answered. Like who, what and when?
For now, there are quite a few blockbusters heading to theaters in the coming months, including flicks from Warner Bros. like Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. You can find out more with our full movie schedule. Now, while we wait, maybe we should lobby for that R-rated cut of The Meg we've heard so much about...
