"Meg" (Jon Turteltaub)

[Irish]

Eli Roth to direct a horror movie about a Canadian kid who works in a hardware store. Wait. No. That's not it.

Sources tell Variety that Eli Roth is in talks to direct the Warner Bros. tentpole, which is based on the Steve Alten novel. Belle Avery and Colin Wilson are producing the pic from a screenplay by Dean Georgaris.

Gerald Molen and Randy Greenberg are exec producing. Gravity Pictures will co-finance the pic and distribute the film in China.

In the book, the story revolves around two men who band together to neutralize an ancient shark that’s threatening the California coast. The Megaladon, considered one of the largest and most powerful predators in history, can reach a maximum length of 60 feet.

Andrew Fischel and Cate Adams will oversee development for Warner Bros.

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/el...os-1201520955/

[megladon8]

Thanks for drawing attention to the misspelling of megaladon that I made at age 12.

Thanks a lot.

[Irish]

Whoa, wait, what? I can't tell if you're joking or not. In case not: First, I apologize for the slight. Second, understand that I joked in good faith, not out of malice.

From what I've read so far, they're not calling this movie The Megaladon. They're calling it Meg. The second I read Variety's headline, I couldn't help but think of you.

[Ezee E]

Irish knows Meg's deepest, darkest secrets.

[megladon8]

I was just joking Irish, I thought it was hilarious!

That's actually where I got my name from though. As a kid I was obsessed with sharks (and read Meg and several other Alten books).

My name megladon8 was my misspelled naming of the shark, and 8 refers to the megaladon shark tooth my uncle gave me for my birthday once - 8 inches long, 5 wide.

[Irish]

Ah good okay. I didn't know any of that. That's cool.

(I'm not actually familiar with the source material & only have a sketchy idea of what a 'megaladon' is.)

[megladon8]

Also I actually think it's spelled "megalodon".

I dunno, I've seen it spelled 3 or 4 different ways.

[Morris Schæffer]

Megalodon Carcharodon, the ancestor of the current great white, the Carcharodon Carcharias. Of course, the tagline of the first novel is Jurassic Shark. Great book, very bloody, insane climax. Jan de Bont was long ago in talks to direct, but it never happened. They even created some art to get things started.

[Morris Schæffer]

Eli roth is probably not right for this. It's a water-based movie for starters and those need a true soldier at the helm. James cameron might have been a great fit, heck he's dived to the Mariana trench and the book posits the meg shark is living down there where it's warm. This will probably end up as shark flick of the week.

[Irish]

Eli roth is probably not right for this. It's a water-based movie for starters and those need a true soldier at the helm

That's a good point.

I'm curious what the budget will be for this. Roth has always operated south of $10MM per picture (and many times, a lot less than that). The Variety piece describes Meg as a tentpole for Warners, which implies a huge budget. That's a big deal for a guy like Roth-- unless (& I can't really imagine them doing this post-Jurassic World) the producers specifically aim for Lake Placid/ Anaconda/ Pirana 3D territory.

[Morris Schæffer]

I think the first 2 Mosasaurus scenes from Jurassic World are what I envision Meg to look like when it emerges from the water and starts chomping down on anything tasty. The book describes several scenes like that where it virtually seems to rise vertically out of the water. Those are some great FX scenes.

Incidentally, the first time I heard about Mosasaurus was while reading one of the Meg sequels so I definitely have read them all, like Meg, but found the last one so-so.

[Morris Schæffer]

[Dukefrukem]

I've read Meg too. It was awesome. I thoroughly believed something like that could happen in real life and made me skeptical about the ocean for a while.

[

Show Spoiler

For instance, in the book, I think there were two Megs? They live in the deepest parts of the ocean where it's warm from the volcanic fissures on the ocean floor. That's why they're not able to come to the surface, the middle of the ocean is too cold for it to survive. Anyway one Meg got killed somehow? and dragged from the deepest parts of the ocean to the surface... and the 2nd Meg followed it up to the surface because it was able to survive in the warmth of the leaking of the blood in the first Meg. And that's how it reached the ocean. So scary.

]

[Morris Schæffer]

You got it 100% right!

[Dead & Messed Up]

All I remember about the book is a bigass shark. Probably all that needs to be remembered. If there was a plot and characters, I can only assume their forgettableness is a mercy.

[Dukefrukem]

I remember the ending too. I remember it being realllly far fetched and kind of annoying. A lot like the ending to the Relic.

[

Show Spoiler

I think, the main guy, somehow got swallowed by the shark... which seems implausible since sharks don't just swallow stuff. They chew the fuck out of it. And in classic Moby Dick style, was able to feel his way through the stomach of the Shark, until he made his way to the heart. And ripped the heart apart killing the shark.

]

[Morris Schæffer]

I remember the ending too. I remember it being realllly far fetched and kind of annoying. A lot like the ending to the Relic.

[

Show Spoiler

I think, the main guy, somehow got swallowed by the shark... which seems implausible since sharks don't just swallow stuff. They chew the fuck out of it. And in classic Moby Dick style, was able to feel his way through the stomach of the Shark, until he made his way to the heart. And ripped the heart apart killing the shark.

]

[

Show Spoiler

Well yeah, but the shark swallowed the submersible whole which, I suppose, makes chewing a helluva lot harder. Then Jonas Taylor, decked out in reinforced scuba gear if memory doesn't fail me, got out of the sub, found a loose tooth as a stabbing weapon and, as you said, proceeded his way to the shark's heart. Lots of gory, decomposed body parts are meanwhile greeting him on his journey.

]

Perhaps it's an Eli Roth movie after all.

[Dukefrukem]

AHahaha oh yeh! It's all coming back to me.

[Morris Schæffer]

Jon Turteltaub is now at the helm. Film will be made in China.

[Morris Schæffer]

Of shit. The stath is close to signing!

[Morris Schæffer]

[Morris Schæffer]

Looks way smaller than described in the book.

[megladon8]

Yeah seriously. In the book it’s freaking shark-zilla.

[Skitch]

Guys, this will be the baby villain for most of the movie.

[Dukefrukem]