Gorehound gourmet Eli Roth is in talks to direct Warner Bros.’ tentpole Meg, about a prehistoric shark that resurfaces in modern times.
It’s been a long journey from sea to shore for the adaptation of Steve Alten’s New York Times bestselling novel, which was originally set up at Disney back in 1997. The box office disappointment of Deep Blue Sea (also shark-themed) led to the project getting iced back then, and it’s been rumbling around Hollywood for years, with Warner Bros. eventually acquiring rights.
However, the studio. has seen the record-breaking ticket sales for Jurassic World, and it’s convinced that Dean Georgaris’ script has the potential to become another prehistoric monster blockbuster. The story is certainly conducive to popcorn entertainment – the book followed two men who teamed up to take down an ancient shark called a Megalodon, which stretches out to over 60 feet, that threatens the coast of California.
Intriguingly, this film take relocates the action to the coast of China, a move that allowed Warner Bros. to bring Gravity Pictures on board as co-financier and Chinese distributor.
Roth, who is considered a member of the Splat Pack for his explicitly violent and excessively gory horror films, is certainly no stranger to shark-themed terror. He’s about to host Shark After Dark for Discovery Channel and will be seen swimming with sharks during the channel’s annual Shark Week, kicking off July 5.
On the film side of things, Roth is finally prepping for the premiere of his long-delayed cannibal film The Green Inferno this September, and he’ll debut Keanu Reeves starrer Knock Knock later in the year. Roth, who broke with Cabin Fever and also helmed the Hostel duology, has never tackled a film of Meg‘s size before, but his horror credentials certainly check out, so if Warner Bros. is looking to make a genuinely terrifying shark movie, he’s the man for the job.