Jason Statham to take on Meg

[Galactus]

Synopsis for the fourth Meg-novel (taken from Steve Alten's official site):

MEG 4: Hell's Aquarium

The Philippine Sea Plate: The most unexplored realm on the planet. Surrounded by subduction zones and no less than six abyssal trenches –– including the seven-mile-deep, 1550 mile long Mariana Trench –– the sea is also home to an incredible anomaly. Hidden beneath its ancient crust lies the remains of the Panthalassa, an ocean that dates back 220 million years. Vast and isolated, the Panthalassa is a purgatory of existence, inhabited by nightmarish species of sea creatures long believed extinct!

Tanaka Institute, Monterey, CA.:
Four years have passed since Angel, the 76 foot, 100,000 pound Megalodon returned from the Mariana Trench to birth its liter of pups -- five females -- far too numerous and aggressive to keep in one pen. As accidents mount one solution presents itself: A Dubai royal prince is building the largest aquarium in the world and seeks to purchase two of the "runts." The deal hinges on hiring Jonas Taylor's twenty-one year old son, David, to be their trainer. Jonas reluctantly agrees, and David is off to Dubai for the summer of his life--

--not realizing he is being set-up to lead an expedition that will hunt down and capture the most dangerous creatures ever to inhabit the planet!

Release date: May 2009

On his site you can also vote for which cover you would like to see on the next novel

www.stevealten.com

 

[Jspider13]

I cannot wait for that one.

Although it seems David might play a larger role than Jonas.

 

[nocomics]

I just wanna see the movie freaking finished

 

[Ultimate Movie-Man]

Anyone know where to find concept art for the movie that's in development hell?

 

[Galactus]

Anyone know where to find concept art for the movie that's in development hell?

I think you could find a few pictures on the writer's official site
www.stevealten.com

 

[Ultimate Movie-Man]

Thanks

 

[Galactus]

For some reason I just suddenly started wondering how it would look like if this movie was made with the technology used in Avatar. Imagine this giant shark coming at you with jaws wide open. In 3D. On a big IMAX-screen. Could be nice.

 

[Ultimate Movie-Man]

Maybe the movie was delayed for *that* very reason...just no-one involved realised that yet...

I'm dying to see this movie, AND get a hold of the book, but if there's one movie that needs to be in 3D - It's Meg.

 

[TLH]

Been waiting for this movie since it was announced years ago. Annoying it has not come to pass. I loved the novel, though it read like a bloated screenplay, really.

 

[Ultimate Movie-Man]

Is that a good thing or bad thing, being a bloated screenplay?

I'm dying to get the book, but I don't read that much, not as much as I used to, so is it worth it?

The book's scarce Down Under

 

[TLH]

Reading like a bloated screenplay is a good thing. MEG doesn't have any literary pretensions because of it.

Try e-bay to pick up a copy of MEG. If not, you could always order it from your local bookstore. Either way, I think it's worth tracking down.

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/trailers/446769-is-meg-finally-surfacing-at-warner-bros

Since it was published back in 1997, author Steve Alten’s New York Times bestseller Meg has been trying to find its way to the big screen. Now, The Tracking Board claims to have an update, reporting that Warner Bros. Pictures is ready to move forward with the story of humanity’s encounter with a thought-to-be-long-extinct 60-foot Megalodon shark.

On his official site, Alten describes his novel as follows:

On a top-secret dive into the Pacific Ocean’s deepest canyon, Jonas Taylor found himself face-to-face with the largest and most ferocious predator in the history of the animal kingdom. The sole survivor of the mission, Taylor is haunted by what he’s sure he saw but still can’t prove exists – Carcharodon megalodon, the massive mother of the great white shark. The average prehistoric Meg weighs in at twenty tons and could tear apart a Tyrannosaurus rex in seconds.

Written off as a crackpot suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Taylor refuses to forget the depths that nearly cost him his life. With a Ph.D. in paleontology under his belt, Taylor spends years theorizing, lecturing, and writing about the possibility that Meg still feeds at the deepest levels of the sea. But it takes an old friend in need to get him to return to the water, and a hotshot female submarine pilot to dare him back into a high-tech miniature sub.

Diving deeper than he ever has before, Taylor will face terror like he’s never imagined, and what he finds could turn the tides bloody red until the end of time. MEG is about to surface. When she does, nothing and no one is going to be safe, and Jonas must face his greatest fear once again.
Quite a few screenwriters have tried their hand at adapting Meg with Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life‘s Dean Georgaris having provided the most recent draft.

Alten, who has subsequently written several sequels to Meg, also recently released an anniversary edition of the text. Check out the trailer for the book in the player below:

[YT]nWQkLMBC2Js[/YT]

 

[Octoberist]

So funny so many have talked about 'Meg' recently in the Jaw thread. Good timing.

 

[Teelie]

I'm not going to believe anything is going on with this movie until I see actual footage of it shot.

 

[StarLord]

Eli Roth to Direct Giant Shark Thriller ‘Meg’ for Warner Bros.

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/e...hark-thriller-meg-for-warner-bros-1201520955/

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[gwynplaine]

Cool.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Oh Eli.

Just make Thanksgiving already and then retire.

 

[dark_b]

a Meg movie should never be serious. Eli is going to make it over the top. thats how it can and will work IMO.

 

[Teelie]

With Eli Roth behind it at least you know it will be a (literally) bloody mess, which it should be given the source material.

 

[Napoleon]

So to those who have read the books, who would you choose to play the characters?
I always imagined Harrison Ford as Jonas Taylor reading the books, but he's too old now. Personally, I'd go with Jason Clarke, since he's pretty close to what I imagine Jonas should look like.
As for Mac, I'd pick Michael Cudlitz (Sgt. Abraham Ford on The Walking Dead for the uninitiated).

 

[Teelie]

Cudlitz could work. I'm not sure on the others though. I think Ford is too famous to have been Taylor and I can't think of who I'd choose for Terri. The only notable Japanese female names I can think of offhand are Rila Fukishima and Rinko Kikuchi. Rinko might be a good Terri. Taylor's ex-wife? I can't remember her name and I can't picture her. It's been so long since I read the original book and a few years since the last one came out (but at that point it's been like 15-20 years I think in the story).

 

[Octoberist]

It's funny how I called out a guy in the variety article in the comments section, by making a random sexist comment about 'no forced female leads'.

I told him that Roth is having two movies with female leads. What a moron.

 

[TheVileOne]

It's funny how I called out a guy in the variety article in the comments section, by making a random sexist comment about 'no forced female leads'.

I told him that Roth is having two movies with female leads. What a moron.

Eh who cares, not like those movies are exceptional or high quality.

I have a morbid curiousity for seeing this if Roth directs it. I think it could be a fun trainwreck.

 

[Octoberist]

Roth is a guy..who lucked out by knowing the right (high profile) people. Otherwise, I don't see how he's any more talented than any VOD horror director.