Warner Bros
Warner Bros has dropped the first trailer for summer shark pic The Meg. The Jason Statham-starrer is a sci-fi thriller about a prehistoric 75-foot-long predator, the Megalodon, who threatens the lives of a research team trapped underwater — and, yes, the fate of the ocean itself. As far as summer popcorn fare, the tagline says it all: “Chomp On This.”
Jon Turtletaub directs from a screenplay by Dean Georgaris and Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber thats based on the New York Times bestseller by Steve Alten.
The film is eyed to take a bite out of the Chinese box office. It was made with China, is set off the mainlands coast and co-stars Li Bingbing. Plus, Statham is a big draw at local turnstiles.
In the story, a deep-sea submersible thats part of an international undersea observation program has been attacked by a massive creature and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer (Winston Chao), against the wishes of his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing), to save the crew — and the ocean — from this unstoppable threat.
What no one could have imagined is that years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying shark. Now, teamed with Suyin, he must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below — bringing him face to face once more with the greatest and largest predator of all time.
The trailer features a look at the team, the beast, a giant squid and a jaunty montage set to Bobby Darins “Beyond The Sea.” Theres also the requisite Shark Week joke, and what could be taken as a nod to the ending of Jaws in one of Stathams quips.
Rounding out the international main cast are Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Page Kennedy, Jessica McNamee, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Robert Taylor, Cliff Curtis, Sophia Shuya Cai and Masi Oka.
A presentation of Warner Bros Pictures and Middle Kingdom-based Gravity Pictures, The Meg is a production of di Bonaventura Pictures, Apelles Entertainment, Maeday Productions and WBs China joint venture Flagship Entertainment, in association with Beijing Digital Impression Film.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Belle Avery and Colin Wilson are producers with Gerald R Molen, Randy Greenberg, Wayne Wei Jiang and Barrie Osborne exec producing.
Gravity will distribute in China with WB on the rest of the world. Release is set for August 10.
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