FILM · 2023 · USA
Meg 2: The Trench
29 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (29)
- #001
Jason Statham performed most of his own stunts. The entire jet-ski chase was done without a stunt double and was all Statham.
- #002
Director Ben Wheatley accepted the job immediately because he had greatly enjoyed watching The Meg (2018), but he also wanted to work with Jason Statham.
- #003
While it was announced that she would return for the sequel, actress Bingbing Li ultimately did not appear, for unknown reasons.
- #004
It is the last film to feature the blue WB shield as the Warner Bros. Pictures opening logo.
- #005
(At about 1 hour 35 minutes) The scene in which Jonas slides off the deck toward the shark's mouth appears to be a nod to Jaws (1975), in which the shark slides into the mouth during Quint's final attack on the boat Orca.
- #006
Despite harsh criticism from reviewers and a release in a summer notorious for declining ticket sales, it apparently defied everything and became one of the most profitable films of the summer of 2023.
- #007
The Snappers combine features of various prehistoric reptiles and amphibians, chiefly Icthyostega, Protosuchus and Dakosaurus.
- #008
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explained that the film was able to avoid most of the MPAA ratings setbacks thanks to its lack of blood and its high amount of humor.
- #009
The film crew initially planned to shoot most of the jet-ski chase scenes in Thailand's Krabi region. However, the government blocked them from doing so because jet skis were banned there on environmental safety grounds. This led the crew to shoot those scenes in the Phuket region.
- #010
(At about the 40th minute) When the main characters first reach the trench, they notice a large number of baby octopuses. Shortly afterward, Lance is dispatched and swallowed by an unseen monster, which later turns out to be the parent octopus.
- #011
This was Jing Wu's first film in Hollywood and his first English-language film.
- #012
Meg 2 contains several homages to the Jaws (1975) series. When one of the Megs destroys the pier on Fun Island, the camera's movement and positions reference the moment Quint is killed. The focus on the oar is a salute to the focus on the oar in Jaws after the shark nearly smashes the hatch on the boat Orca. When one of the Megs destroys it on Fun Island, the shapes the pier takes are the same as the shape of the pier in Jaws when the two locals throw the roast into the water to catch the dock. The dogs in both films are named Pipit. When DJ mentions having poison-tipped bullets, this refers to "Jaws 2". The second Meg killed is killed in a style very similar to the shark in Jaws 2 (1978) and ultimately makes a sound at the water's surface with the same instrument used to kill the creature. The underwater shot of the shark eating the swimmer is a nod to the opening sequence of the original Jaws film.
- #013
In an interview, the producer expressed interest in making a "Meg" sequel set almost entirely underwater, with many different, previously undiscovered and far more dangerous structures.
- #014
Meg 2 had been in the works since October 2018, immediately after the original film's release. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura confirmed in early 2019 that a script was being worked on, and the sequel gained momentum in October 2020 when Ben Wheatley was announced as the director of The Meg 2.
- #015
Author Steve Alten had previously refused to approve a "Meg" film script in the 1990s because it featured a shark with wings that growled.
- #016
Most of the promotional activities were canceled because of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The world premiere was held on 28 July 2023 at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing.
- #017
At the film's opening, a megalodon is shown attacking and eating a T-Rex on a beach, even though the dinosaurs went extinct about 43 million years before megalodons first appear in the fossil record. This means the series both delayed the megalodon's extinction to the present day by 3.6 million years and delayed its first evolution by tens of millions of years.
- #018
(At about 2 minutes) The Tyrannosaurus Rex seen in the opening sequence is a shout-out to the T-Rexes of the Jurassic Park (1993) series, right down to its color scheme. The megalodon splitting it open from behind and dragging it into the depths is a fairly obvious riff on Indominus's death scene in Jurassic World (2015) (although it ultimately derives from a scene in Steve Alten's original book, which predates Jurassic World).
- #019
DNEG, Scanline VFX and Milk VFX provided the visual effects for the sequel (DNEG also oversaw the 3D conversion). Pete Bebb and Gavin Round served as production visual effects supervisor and production visual effects producer, respectively.
- #020
It contains a total of 1,732 VFX shots.
- #021
Meg 2: The Trench was released in the same year as the other two megalodon-themed films, The Black Demon (2023) and The Asylum's Megalodon: The Frenzy (2023), as well as Godzilla Minus One (2023).
- #022
At roughly 1 hour 18 minutes, a helicopter with the designation XU-018 appears. XU indicates that it is registered in Cambodia in real life.
- #023
The end title sequence features Chomp (Bankey Ojo Remix) in the background music, written and performed by Page Kennedy, who appears as DJ in both Meg and Meg 2, courtesy of Kennedy Entertainment. His song is followed to the end of the credits by Fun Island by Harry Gregson-Williams.
- #024
The silhouette photo of Meiying looking at the Meg in the tank is likely a tribute to author Steve Alten, referencing the cover art of Meg: Hell's Aquarium, the fourth book in Alten's Meg series.
- #025
Sergio Peris-Mencheta and Sienna Guillory both appeared in this film and in Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), but they never share a scene together.
- #026
At roughly the 37th minute, Jonas enters the code 1865 to initiate the emergency protocol and escape the damaged submersible and head for the station. This is a possible reference to Journey to the Center of the Earth, which premiered in 1864.
- #027
Jason Statham as Jonas Taylor, Shuya Sophia Cai as Meiying, Cliff Curtis as Mac and Page Kennedy as DJ all reprise their roles from the original Meg.
- #028
At roughly the 37th minute, Jonas enters the code 1865 to initiate the emergency protocol and escape the damaged submersible and head for the station. This is probably a reference to the Germans' first submarine launch that year.
- #029
As the team nears the end of its underwater walk toward the enemy submarine station, it comes under attack from creatures. At this point the lighting is deliberately so poor that it is impossible to see who is doing what to whom. Not being able to see the action is something some directors and/or cinematographers do to hide the fact that the action is below standard.
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