If you thought ‘Sharknado 3‘ would corner the market on shark movies it seems like Warner Brothers disagrees with you as they have hired Eli Roth (‘Clown‘,’The Green Inferno‘) to direct ‘Meg.’ With giant creature features having a revival of sorts at the box office it almost sounds as if there is going to be some new game in town. While ‘Meg’ actually getting to the big screen might be new, it is a movie that has been in development for almost 20 years and is the tale of a giant prehistoric shark that is ready to sink its teeth into humanity. The original novel was released in 1997 which quickly became a New York Times bestseller. It was written by Steve Alten and the full title was: ‘MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror.’

In the novel, we follow two men who are working together in order to stop The Megaladon. It is thought to be the largest living predator in history at a length of over 60 feet and would easily put ‘Jaws’ to shame. One major change from the novel though is that instead of the California coast we’ll see this taking place off of China’s coast. I’m sure that with Warner Brothers involved we’ll get slightly better special effects than what we’ve seen on Syfy with the likes of the ‘Sharknado’ series, Sharktopus, Dinoshark, Jersey Shore Shark Attack, Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy, and so many more! Aside from the cheesy B factor most likely not existing in this one, the visuals alone should put them to shame. Yes, shark based horror is no stranger to the small screen though we haven’t seen much of it at movie theaters as of late.

At this time we also know that Belle Avery and Colin Wilson attached to produce with a screenplay by Dean Georgaris (‘The Manchurian Candidate,’ ‘Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life’). If the studio is in a push to capitalize on the success of ‘Jurassic World’ I would expect that Roth will be officially attached soon with casting following shortly after.

The big screen adaptation has had a rough time over the years as it was originally picked up by Disney in 1997 though when ‘Deep Blue Sea’ tanked at the box office they had second thoughts on how much an audience would want to see more films about sharks. Warner Brothers though has been pushing the film for quite some time and I’m sure the recent hits of ‘Pacific Rim,’ ‘Godzilla,’ and now ‘Jurassic World‘ have helped cement that moviegoers really still do love giant creature features.

Are you looking forward to checking out ‘Meg’? Do you think Roth is the right man to helm a giant monster movie? Share your thoughts below!

Source: Variety