It was a very sad day when it was announced that New Line has dropped the giant shark movie “Meg” (based on the best selling book). This is one I’ve been looking forward to ever since 2005. For some reason, I just LOVE giant shark movies. I wish they would put them out half as much as they put out zombie movies.
Anyway, the rights to the movie have reverted back to the author of the book, Steve Alten, who says Jan de Bont is going to remain attached to the movie… even post-New Line. The good folks over at Moviehole give us this:
Over the years I penned my own script as a means of enticing producers. In February of 2004 Nick Nunziata and I hooked up for a CNN interview for Resurrection. We discussed Meg and Nick took it t o his friend, Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo showed the book to producer Lloyd Levin, and his partner, Larry Gordon. I gave them an option. They added Jan De Bont as director and Jan and I worked on the script. In early 2005 the package went to New Line. They had been trying to find a project for screenwriter Shane Salerno. Shane loved Meg and the deal was done.” Alten says he’s in discussions with some other studios that might be interested in taking on the project. He’s also keeping Jan de Bont attached as the director. “I think Jan will be amazing with Meg”, he says of the filmmaker, whose credits include “Speed”, “Twister” and, er, “The Haunting”.
So there you have it. Personally, I like the concept of de Bont at the helm for a movie like this one. He’s shown he can take a scenario and build some good excitement and tension into it in an entertaining way most of the time… and if you can combine that with a project like “Meg”, I think you’ll have one hell of a fun movie. Here’s just hoping that another studio comes along and picks it up sooner rather than later.
(as a side note, there were some whispers going around that complications and sudden budget increases with “Rush Hour 3” played a role in New Line’s decision to drop MEG. Yet another reason for me to hate Chris Tucker) :P
