[Movie] MEG 2: The Trench (Angel)

[Ihavewaffles]

Meg 2: The Trench

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9224104/

A research team on an exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean sees their voyage spiral into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival. Pitted against colossal Megs and relentless environmental plunderers, our heroes must outrun, outsmart, and outswim their merciless predators in a pulse-pounding race against time.

Plot unknown. Sequel to the 2018 film 'The Meg'.

Director: Ben Wheatley
Writers: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Dean Georgaris
Stars: Jason Statham, Jing Wu, Sienna Guillory



MEG 2: THE TRENCH - OFFICIAL TRAILER

Warner Bros. Pictures
17 hours ago



They’re back for seconds. #Meg2 only in theaters August 4.

Get ready for the ultimate adrenaline rush this summer in “Meg 2: The Trench,” a literally larger-than-life thrill ride that supersizes the 2018 blockbuster and takes the action to higher heights and even greater depths with multiple massive Megs and so much more! Dive into uncharted waters with Jason Statham and global action icon Wu Jing as they lead a daring research team on an exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean. Their voyage spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival. Pitted against colossal Megs and relentless environmental plunderers, our heroes must outrun, outsmart, and outswim their merciless predators in a pulse-pounding race against time. Immerse yourself in the most electrifying cinematic experience of the year with “Meg 2: The Trench” – where the depths of the ocean are matched only by the heights of sheer, unstoppable excitement!

Warner Bros. Pictures and CMC Pictures present “Meg 2: The Trench,” with Statham and Jing headlining an ensemble cast that also includes Sophia Cai (“The Meg”), Page Kennedy (“The Meg”), Sergio Peris-Mencheta (“Rambo: Last Blood”), Skyler Samuels (“The Gifted”), and Cliff Curtis (“Avatar” franchise).
“Meg 2: The Trench” is directed by Ben Wheatley (“In the Earth,” “Free Fire”), from a screenplay by Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber (“The Meg,” “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”) and Dean Georgaris (“The Meg,” “Lara Croft: Toom Raider – The Cradle of Life”), and a screen story by Dean Georgaris and Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber, based on the novel The Trench by Steve Alten. The film is produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura (“The Meg,” “Bumblebee”) and Belle Avery (“The Meg,” “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”), and executive produced by Jason Statham, Cate Adams, Ruigang Li, Catherine Xujun Ying, Wu Jing, E. Bennett Walsh, Erik Howsam, Gerald R. Molen and Randy Greenberg.

Joining director Wheatley behind the camera are director of photography Haris Zambarloukous (“Belfast,” “Murder on the Orient Express”), production designer Chris Lowe (“The Gray Man,” “No Time to Die”) and editor Jonathan Amos (“Baby Driver,” “Paddington 2”). The visual effects supervisor is Pete Bebb (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Inception”), and costume designer is Lindsay Pugh (“The Matrix Resurrections,” “Krypton”). The music is by Harry Gregson-Williams (“The Meg,” “The Martian”).

Warner Bros. Pictures and CMC Pictures present, in association with DF Pictures, a di Bonaventura/Apelles Entertainment, Inc. production, a Ben Wheatley film, “Meg 2: The Trench.” It will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and is set to open in theaters in North America on August 4, 2023 and internationally beginning 02 August 2023.

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Whoa, they are actually pulling that T-Rex scene from the 1st book!



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https://megbookseries.fandom.com/wiki/Angel

Angel is a fictional megalodon shark that appears in the Meg Saga, written by Steve Alten.
She is one of the most prominent characters in the saga, along with Jonas Taylor.



Description
Arguably the primary antagonist of the series, a female Megalodon shark, Angel is first introduced in the ending lines of Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, the only surviving pup of a brood of three, her two siblings having died, one mauled by his own mother, the other killed by a pack of killer whales. Characterized by being a ghostly albino, much like her mother, Angel is made a worldwide sensation after her capture, by being spared death and instead kept in the Tanaka Oceanographic Institute, it's man-made lagoon being originally designed to study whales. The second novel, The Trench, reintroduces Angel as a fully grown adult, a monstrous behemoth about seventy feet long and weighing sixty thousand pounds, far too large to be contained in such a restrictive habitat, especially given the fact that additional events; such as annual whale migrations arousing her hunger and the onset of estrus leave her exceptionally ferocious and aggressive.

Her escape from said lagoon sets the events of the novel in motion, which would cover her return to her species' ancestral sanctuary, in the novels depicted as the Mariana Trench. During the voyage, she herself becomes a mother for the first time, giving birth to two pups, one of which will become Scarface, the male Megalodon that appeared the most during the third novel, Primal Waters. In the third book, Angel's role is momentarily shadowed by that of her offspring, though she appears during the climax of the story, mating with another male Megalodon in the Tanaka lagoon before escaping, after being almost suffocated by her mate - which would be later found gruesomely eviscerated.

Her next appearance is in the fourth, Hell's Aquarium, where Angel, having gotten pregnant again, gives birth to five Meg females. It is her last appearance, since she is finally killed after an abyssal battle with another thought-to-be extinct predator of the Trench, a gigantic, 122- foot Liopleurodon. She was survived by three of her pups.

While being a central character of the novels and the main force behind many of the most relevant deaths and events that occur in the Meg series, Angel is herself but an animal, and is presented as such, exhibiting behavior loosely akin to that of contemporary sharks, namely, Great Whites. Indeed, it is those who observe the behemoth who help depict her as almost sentient, though often this is a product of fear or hatred dictated by dire or precarious circumstances.

She is something of an archnemesis to protagonist Jonas Taylor, the one responsible of capturing her in the first novel, and the one who saved her from being killed by her mate in the third book. Indeed, on the latter occasion Taylor went so far as to declare something of a kinship between him and the creature, even though in the second book his obsession with the Meg almost had him suffer a mental breakdown.

While somehow true to science's current understaing about Megalodons, Angel is heavily fictionalized in the novel: she is larger than what is thought to be the average length of this ancient apex predator, and also, in the fourth novel, it is stated that she evolved to be capable of asexual reproduction, an unprecedented change thought by the characters to be an innate response of the beast to her species' near extinction.

[Ihavewaffles]

Hmpffh...yes, it does look like that, I was hoping for more horror and they didn't show that translucent shark Angel, oh well, maybe 3rd movie?

Solid as heck song choice for the trailer, too.

Yep. love that song!

[Koriani]

The first MEG movie really surprised me in how fun and well done of a giant-animal-monster movie it was. Its become an almost 'comfort watch' every time I catch it on network tv. LUV it! The "surprise" scene where the bigger Meg leaps up to eat the smaller meg and crush the boat is one of my top 10 favorite monster movie scenes - evar.

So yeah - super happy they are doing a sequel and its just playing into the nonsensical monster movie madness with deeper ocean and bigger Meg-shark-monsters!

Hells to the yeah! I'm here for it. Gimme more Meglodons, surviving small dog, and Jason Stathem!

And thank you for including the bit explaining why "Angel" was in your title, I had no idea!

[Biomega]

I'm always happy when something owns what it is, and doesn't try to make excuses. Be dumb! Be stupid fun! THAT'S FINE. Kudos to them, and to Jason who really kind of has become the iconic silly-premise action hero but always manages to pull it off.

[Daedius]

Always enjoy some silly horror.

[Puupi]

Seems like brainless summer fun!

I remember playing Barracuda a lot on Guitar Hero like 20 years ago

[Ihavewaffles]

surviving small dog

I didn't notice that, it's the same doggie as in the last movie, I hope they continue including it xD

[Doctor Amadeus]

Lol…why?

The first one was awful. I love a good cheesy flick but why not sharknado 20 or something.

[Hotmail]

I'm a simple man. I see Statham, I watch.

[Koriani]

Lol…why?

The first one was awful. I love a good cheesy flick but why not sharknado 20 or something.

Well as someone who loves these movies, but hates "Sharknado's". There is a difference. Better writing, better actors, and far more CGI/Production value.

Its just a better "done" movie, all around. I will agree though - the PREMISE to both is equally silly and stupid. Just one is a much better done "stupid monster" movie than the other - and that makes ALL the difference.

At least to those of us who enjoy these sorts of movies, but don't enjoy the B-C Grade "stupid monster" flicks. *shrugs*

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I'm a simple man. I see Statham, I watch.

And that too.

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I didn't notice that, it's the same doggie as in the last movie, I hope they continue including it xD

No idea if it is literally the *same dog* (as in IRL the same dog vs. the dog character is the same character with the same couple in the movie) - but yeah, I saw the flash in the preview and immediately recognized it as the same breed/type dog that survived the first movie.

And agreed! Its a funny little 'nod' to bring back, but makes the movie all the more amusingly awesome for doing so. (And that dog better survive again too!)

[Doctor Amadeus]

Well as someone who loves these movies, but hates "Sharknado's". There is a difference. Better writing, better actors, and far more CGI/Production value.

Its just a better "done" movie, all around. I will agree though - the PREMISE to both is equally silly and stupid. Just one is a much better done "stupid monster" movie than the other - and that makes ALL the difference.

At least to those of us who enjoy these sorts of movies, but don't enjoy the B-C Grade "stupid monster" flicks. *shrugs*

You make pretty good points. Despite my criticism I might check it out though. I don't turn my nose down at a entertaining "T*ties and Explosions" Mindless film and maybe this is it.

But the production cost per return has to be insane LOL!

[Koriani]

You make pretty good points. Despite my criticism I might check it out though. I don't turn my nose down at a entertaining "T*ties and Explosions" Mindless film and maybe this is it.

But the production cost per return has to be insane LOL!

Well, I don't know that it will have any T*Ties - the first one didn't. Actually a relatively LOW body count in the movie too, esp. in a movie with megladons swimming around crowded beaches. (Hundreds threatened with death, very few dying). It still had less graphic/'gore' than Jaws 3 (3D) - really.

But it will definitely have HUGE MEGa-sharks in ridiculous situations that meet no standard of science or logic - with explosions and at least passably-good CGI (if its anything of the quality of the first).

IF you enjoy silly stupid movies that KNOW they are silly stupid and aren't trying to be anything /more/ than that - I'd say check it out.

But I'd also say watch the first one, first (if you haven't yet) - if you aren't entertained, then obviously don't bother with the 2nd.

And its fine if you don't care for it. My hubby doesn't care for these sorts of movies - he's just ok with them enough to go with me because I enjoy them.

As for production cost per return - the first movie must have made enough money (or enough of a cult following on VOD/streaming in the years since) to impress someone for them to offer up the $$ to produce the sequel. I'm a bit surprised myself actually (that it made enough lol), but perhaps they feel they can make it just cheap enough that the market and the VoD afterwards will again turn enough of a profit. And maybe, just maybe, we'll get a 3rd! (assuming this sequal IS at least as good as the first, I do realize of course, I'm sure we all do - that this movie could suck major balls and be nothing near as good as the first heh).

[Ihavewaffles]

it will probably open in China this time too, I suppose if they partially pay for the movie, so if that's the case, it will make money

[Doctor Amadeus]

Well, I don't know that it will have any T*Ties - the first one didn't. Actually a relatively LOW body count in the movie too, esp. in a movie with megladons swimming around crowded beaches. (Hundreds threatened with death, very few dying). It still had less graphic/'gore' than Jaws 3 (3D) - really.

But it will definitely have HUGE MEGa-sharks in ridiculous situations that meet no standard of science or logic - with explosions and at least passably-good CGI (if its anything of the quality of the first).

IF you enjoy silly stupid movies that KNOW they are silly stupid and aren't trying to be anything /more/ than that - I'd say check it out.

But I'd also say watch the first one, first (if you haven't yet) - if you aren't entertained, then obviously don't bother with the 2nd.

And its fine if you don't care for it. My hubby doesn't care for these sorts of movies - he's just ok with them enough to go with me because I enjoy them.

As for production cost per return - the first movie must have made enough money (or enough of a cult following on VOD/streaming in the years since) to impress someone for them to offer up the $$ to produce the sequel. I'm a bit surprised myself actually (that it made enough lol), but perhaps they feel they can make it just cheap enough that the market and the VoD afterwards will again turn enough of a profit. And maybe, just maybe, we'll get a 3rd! (assuming this sequal IS at least as good as the first, I do realize of course, I'm sure we all do - that this movie could suck major balls and be nothing near as good as the first heh).

That’s magic to me

[Fencers]

I love it. Cheesy monster flicks I'm 100% down for watching.

[Ihavewaffles]

don't hurt the doggie!

[Relapses]

Wasn't the first one a Hollywood project made almost exclusively for Chinese audiences? It didn't even do spectacular here in the states from what I remember. This looks fun I guess but definitely not anything I wouldn't rush to theaters to check out. Enjoyed the Deep Blue Sea riff but I have a feeling that's one of this movie's best jokes and it's in the fucking trailer. Oh well.

[MrLachyG]

I'm a simple man. I see Statham, I watch.

Whether it’s Statham vs 5 guys on a basketball court or Statham vs a gigantic prehistoric whale shark thingy you know it will be great!

[ParanoiD84]

Enjoyed the first one so definitely going to see this one.

[Ihavewaffles]

'The Meg 2' Producer Promises More Creatures, Shark Attacks, and an Even Bigger Bite of Humor [Exclusive]

https://collider.com/meg-2-creatures...tura-comments/
BY CHRISTOPHER MCPHERSON - 5 DAYS AGO

Jason Statham - Shark Puncher. That's the sort of four-word pitch that gets studios to say yes to something. It's up there with "Snakes on a plane." or "Margot Robbie is Barbie." in terms of well let's just do that right now. The Meg was something of a sleeper hit when it came out, grossing a staggering $530 million worldwide off a budget estimated between $130-150 million, and it garnered a cult following. Based on the 1997 Steve Alten novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, Statham played rescue diver Jonas Taylor who comes face to face with a megalodon, a prehistoric gigantic shark.

To be blunt, the film was preposterous nonsense, and that's a good thing. Statham's natural charisma carried it a long way, but a criticism of the film was that it wasn't quite as fun as it should be - that's something producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura was keen to rectify when it came to Meg 2: The Trench, the somewhat-delayed sequel which sees Statham return for round 2. Speaking with Collider's Steve Weintraub while promoting his latest film, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and asked the producer about how the sequel had been performing in testing as well as what he was anticipating from its release in cinemas. He shared:

"It's really held its appeal, so in making this movie, one of the things we learned is you could add more comedy than we originally thought in a shark movie, in a way. So I think this movie is probably funnier. There's certainly some big laughs in it. There's more shark attacks. There's more crazy ideas that we've tested out on the audience. So the movie, it's testing well, but more importantly, the audience seems to be relating to it very similar to the first movie."

But Does He Punch a Shark?

A question did remain, however—how would the MPAA react to the increased number of shark attacks? According to Di Bonaventura, a lack of gore is helpful in getting them to buy into the lightheartedness, allowing for that more lucrative PG-13 rating. "They push back on the blood. As long as you don't do gore, they sort of accept the fun nature of it, you know? And I think because of the fun nature, it takes the edge off it a little bit," he explained.

"But at the same time, the movie needs to have some edge, or else it feels like it becomes a spoof or something, and that's definitely not what it is. So, I think the trickiest thing about The Meg is keeping that balance between violence and humor."

Based on the box office return of the first film, and the hopes for the second, you could forgive Di Bonaventura and Warner Bros., its distributing studio, for thinking they had a franchise on which they could bank. Not so, according to the producer. Diplomatically admitting there "could be" more fun stories to tell, he admitted they would need to find a fresh way of telling the story, lest they ruin the audience's goodwill and outstay their welcome.

"I think the challenge will be how to find, in a way, another underwater world to explore. My gut says that's the thing we'll need to figure out so it doesn't feel like you're going to the same place over and over again. This time we go so much more time there, so it feels different. You're really in there for a long stretch of the movie, so you get to know it, in a way, and you run into structures that people don't know are down there, and things that are gonna surprise you and surprise the characters. But I think a third time there might feel like we're overstaying our welcome. So I think that'll be the task the next time is to figure out what is that next underwater experience that you want to find?"

Despite all the exciting talk of the shark attacks, the humor, the blood, and the gore—the fundamental question remains: will we see Statham punch a shark in this film? Di Bonaventura is keeping his cards close, saying, "Well, not exactly, but maybe we top that idea. He might tap in a really violent way. He kicks a shark!"