A prehistoric beast will emerge from the depths this weekend when Jon Turtletaub's The Meg premieres in theaters. The film takes many tropes of the shark movie genre and dials them up to eleven by increasing the size and scale of the creature, but it also has many fans drawing comparisons to other, non-shark monster movies. In a recent interview, Turtletaub opened up, and admitted that many have compared The Meg to Jurassic Park because of its focus on a prehistoric animal roaming around in the modern era. The director explained:
A lot of people compare the movie to Jaws and Jurassic Park, yet no one has ever compared me to Steven Spielberg, so I have no idea what this means. Jurassic Park was so interesting because it's a time-travel movie where the people don't travel through time, the monster does, and that's the same story here.
In terms of the bare bones skeletons of the stories, Jon Turtletaub's remarks to THR actually make quite a bit of sense. While their broader stories are different, The Meg and Jurassic Park do both tell very similar tales of dinosaurs emerging in a new time period to feast on human prey. There are obviously a number of differences that prevent one from feeling like a carbon copy of the other, but that core DNA does arguably make them the "same story" in the director's eyes.
With that said, there are plenty of other films that seem to share similarities with The Meg as well. One clear option is the aforementioned Jaws, as well as other shark movies like Deep Blue Sea, 47 Meters Down, and The Shallows. With only a few days to go until The Meg finally premieres, we will just have to wait and see how Jon Turtletaub and his cast break new ground on the shark genre and do something unique with this awesome monster.
The Meg centers on a group of scientists and ocean explorers who encounter an enormous Megalodon during an excursion to the bottom of the sea. Newly awakened after millennia of presumed extinction, the shark goes on a rampage through the Pacific Ocean, leaving disgraced and foul-mouthed rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) to take it down. The film is based on a sci-fi novel by Steve Alten, not unlike the original Jurassic Park, which was similarly based on a sci-fi novel written by the late Michael Crichton.
The Megalodon will return to the shallows to eat some modern day prey this weekend when The Meg premieres on the big screen on August 10. Watch out for this summer's biggest shark movie when it debuts, and head over to our movie premiere guide to read up on everything else that's going to premiere this year!
