Normally when you think of a film written and/or directed by Ben Wheatley, there’s a certain amount of terror to be expected. But with films like Kill List, High Rise and his most recent film, In The Earth, that terror is usually presented on a more personal level than something like a big budget shark movie that happens to be The Meg 2. And yet, that gig is one of Wheatley’s next opportunities as a filmmaker, and he’s absolutely pumped to get to work on a wide-scale blockbuster.
As ComicBook.com spoke with Ben Wheatley on behalf of In The Earth’s release, the shark action coming in the director’s future took a moment of focus on the conversation. And why shouldn’t it, considering The Meg rode a wave of box office terror that made it a surprise success? Wheatley sounds like one of the fans who wanted to see more, and it shows in how he described his process on the film so far:
But it's an opportunity to do action on such an insanely large scale, that it's just unbelievable. From doing Free Fire, which was, I thought, was all my Christmases came at once in terms of action, this is just unbelievable. And just doing the storyboards for it, just thinking and going, 'Oh,' it's just ... I feel a heavy responsibility for it, to make sure that it kind of delivers on all the, to all the big shark fans out there.
The jump from indie-centric thrills to the auspices of a blockbuster studio like Warner Bros is always a trial by fire when it comes to projects like The Meg 2. A unique quality regarding Ben Wheatley’s hiring on the well-awaited Jason Statham sequel is that while he’s definitely graduating into a higher budget bracket, the energy needed for such an adventure is already present in his films. Wheatley himself even makes a fantastic example of such energy by citing the frenetic action-comedy Free Fire in his own defense.
If Free Fire was all of Ben Wheatley’s Christmases landing in his lap, then you have to wonder what The Meg 2 has to be in terms of the holiday scale? Would this be all of his birthdays combined into one? Maybe it’s all of his Easters. Whatever holiday he chooses, this aquatic odyssey is headed our way with his brand of chaos coming with it, which means that there’s an opportunity for new fans to be caught in the net of this shark-tastic blockbuster!
The Meg 2 currently doesn’t have its release date set, but you can see Wheatley’s latest movie, In The Earth, showing in theaters. Additionally, Free Fire is currently in the Netflix streaming library. So if you want to get a taste of what this movie may be, watch that film and The Meg back to back!
