7 Huge Upcoming Movies (That Are Massive Gambles)
5. The Meg
Reported budget: $150 million
Release date: 10th August 2018
Personally, the words 'Jason Statham versus a prehistoric giant shark' lead this writer to proclaim 'shut up and take my money.' However, there are certainly grounds on which to suspect that the wider audience may not feel similarly.
Okay, so one of the all-time biggest blockbusters, 1975's Jaws (global haul of well into the billions, adjusted for inflation), was a shark movie. However, in the decades since Steven Spielberg's monster hit, movies centred on those fearsome undersea creatures tend not to be such big fish in the small pond that is the box office.
The biggest shark-based hit of recent years was 2016's The Shallows, and that took just under $120 million worldwide. Not bad considering the film cost only $17 million to make, but hardly Jaws numbers.
Similarly, while The Stath may be a valued ensemble member on the Fast & Furious and Expendables franchises, financially speaking he's less proven as a leading man. The highest grossing Statham-headlined film to date is 2016's Mechanic: Resurrection, which took just shy of $126 million worldwide.
All this being the case, one can be forgiven for wondering if The Meg (adapted from Steve Alten's 1997 novel) is likely to recoup the large amount it's costing to bring to the screen, particularly given how little early buzz it's generated thus far.