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After two decades in the deep waters of development, prehistoric shark player "The Meg" is finally ready to swim in the late summer box office.
Steve Alten, the author of the novel on which the film is based, repeatedly thought that the project could sink without a wrinkle. When Alten was 15 years old in 1975, he became a big fan of Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" success – which inspired him to start exploring the idea of a prehistoric giant prehistoric shark species surviving. in the world of today.
Hollywood has produced a lot of shark movies since "Jaws", but "Meg" has been stuck in the hell of development for more than two decades. It was finally released on August 10, with Jason Statham, directed by Jon Turteltaub, and written by Dean Georgaris and brothers Jon and Erich Hoeber.
As "Skyscraper", which has doubled its domestic launch in China, "The Meg" is a partially Chinese production that is turning to the Middle Kingdom to help consolidate the box office. With a budget of $ 150 million and a moderate opening weekend of $ 18 to $ 23 million in North America, Warner Bros will need significant support from overseas for the Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and China.
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The film's first attack takes place 200 miles off the Chinese coast and the International Shark Research Institute is located in China . Chinese actors Li Bingbing and Winston Chao have lead roles. Perhaps most importantly, China-based Gravity Pictures is a co-financier.
Alten said Variety which helped to trigger the idea . "When I was 35, struggling to support a family of five, I took a number from Time in August 1995 and there was a cover story on the Mariana Trench. And I thought, "It would not be good if this shark was there, so I started working on the book from 10 pm to 3 am"
Two years later, Alten publishes "Meg: A Roman of the Deep Terror" as the story of a paleontologist who finds himself facing a huge 70-foot megalodon in the Mariana Trench – the deepest part of World's oceans at over 36,000 feet – and tries to stop humanity from attacking and giving birth to a Megalodons family.
Disney picked up the film rights in 1997 shortly after the publication of the novel.He abandoned the project a few years later, with Alten then setting up the film at New Line, which joined the director "Speed "Jan de Bont But New Line suffered a painful downsizing in 2007, so the rights go back to Alten.
Alten ignored the delay and continued to write. He has published five other books "Meg" after completing "Meg: Generations."
"The Megalodon is something that was alive until a few million years ago," Alten reflects. "And only 1% of the deep water in the world has been explored, are there still thousands?" Probably not, but you never really know what's in it. Low. "
Randy Greenberg, executive producer of the film, explains that Disney's original plan was to make" Meg "a family film, while the idea of New Line was to make Bont a more terrifying. He thanks producer Belle Avery for having the foresight to carry out the project after entering into an agreement with Alten in 2008. Avary, who has moved Japan's history to China, also insisted on that she is family friendly and "The Meg" arrives in the theaters with a PG-13 rating – and not a single word of curse.
Avary says that it took him 22 round trip trips in eight years to China to fund "The Meg" and in pre-production.
For his part, Avary credits the crucial support of the Chinese film Wayne Wei Jiang to the Gravity Pictures project in 2014.
"I remember thinking," It's that one, "Wei said. Jiang. "I thought it could be a very good co-production." Wei Jiang says Georgaris has incorporated Chinese elements into the screenplay before going to Warner Bros.
After Warner took the project, Eli Roth was briefly attached to direct, but studio then opted for Turteltaub, director of the films "National Treasure" and "Last Vegas". Two other notable producers are credited in addition to Avary – Colin Wilson ("The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and "Munich") and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, producer of the franchise "Transformers" who was one of the best executives of Warner Bros. in the 1990s and early 2000s.
"For me, it was a homecoming at Warner Bros.", said di Bonaventura. "I've always considered this to be a fun movie, something like" do not take it too seriously. It's basically a good idea – and your job as a producer is to make the extraordinary plausible. I think the film does a very good job of setting up the quasi-science of it. "
Di Bonaventura pointed out that multicultural elements are essential and that it is an image where 3D is paying off.
Erich Hoeber collaborated with his brother Jon Hoeber and Georgaris for the screenplay, noted that He often asked if the movie looks like "Sharknado."
"The Meg & # 39; is like 'Sharknado & # 39; "He had a budget of $ 150 million and a heart," he dreamed. "We know it's outrageous, but it's also very entertaining. So the people you want to be eaten by the shark will be eaten by the shark. "
Hoeber noted that the cast of Statham was particularly appropriate since Statham was a senior diver as a member of the British National Nation, swimming for a decade before becoming an actor.
" So he was in his element, doing swan dives from the ship, where any other actor would have said, "I do not know," added Hoeber. "That's really the part where he was born to play. "
As for Alten, he has been struggling with Parkinson's for more than a decade.He finished the film after 22 years is a bit bitter because he recently said to fans in his monthly newsletter that he did not know how easy it would be to step on the red carpet at the premiere
"The last thing I want is to be" Alten wrote "But I'm sure I'll be excited when I'm there on August 6th. "
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