Contemplating Jason Statham’s standing as one of many pre-eminent motion stars of his era, there was all the time going to return a time when he battled an enormous shark. After many years of going through off towards the largest motion stars on the earth, there was actually no person else outfitted to take care of the person’s fight abilities however a 75-foot lengthy prehistoric Megalodon, and in 2018 audiences lastly bought to witness this historic showdown.
Directed by Jon Turteltaub (“Cool Runnings,” “Nationwide Treasure”), “The Meg” is loosely primarily based on Steve Alten’s 1997 novel “Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror” and stars Statham as deep-sea diving specialist Jonas Taylor. After a group of scientists grow to be trapped throughout a analysis journey, Taylor is known as in to rescue the group within the depths of the Mariana Trench. Sadly, all this commotion awakens a huge shark lengthy regarded as extinct, and the beast is not all that happy about being disturbed. After all, when Jason Statham is in your group, you are all the time going to return out on prime, and the ultimate battle between the Megalodon and Statham’s diver makes for a delightfully ridiculous climax.
The film went by a protracted growth course of to lastly make it to the large display screen, and at one level was virtually produced by Guillermo del Toro. An early iteration of the movie reportedly even featured a model of the titular shark that might fly, which could have been a step too far even for as foolish a film as “The Meg” turned out to be. Whereas it may not be considered one of Statham’s greatest films, then, “The Meg” not solely carried out effectively on the field workplace upon its preliminary launch, it has additionally seemingly retained its enchantment, as Prime Video viewers have been streaming Statham’s shark showdown in earnest.
The Meg emerges from the depths to take over the Prime Video charts
“The Meg” was added to Prime Video all the best way again in November 2024, however for no matter cause has resurfaced to take a chunk out of the streamer’s charts in latest weeks. In response to FlixPatrol, a web site that tracks streaming viewership knowledge, the movie is presently sitting at quantity seven on the Prime Video charts within the U.S. which maybe is not the largest triumph conceivable. However if you additionally contemplate that “The Meg” has been rating on the streamer’s charts for the higher a part of a month, issues begin to look a bit completely different.
Jason Statham’s over-the-top actioner has been a constant hit on Prime Video, even dropping out of the charts on March 17, 2025, solely to re-emerge the next day within the quantity 10 spot, earlier than leaping three locations to quantity seven as of March 19. What’s propelling this renewed streaming success? That is not fully clear, however “The Meg” refuses to sink and it could merely be so simple as Prime Video highlighting the film on the prime of its interface (that or audiences getting ready for Statham’s upcoming actioner “A Working Man,” which reunites the star along with his “The Beekeeper” director David Ayer and is because of attain theaters on March 28, 2025). Regardless of the cause, “The Meg” continues to attract consideration years after its field workplace triumph, regardless of some fairly awful evaluations.
Do you have to dive again into The Meg?
When it hit theaters in 2018, “The Meg” made $527 million on a $178 million funds, making for a powerful success throughout. Properly, not likely throughout. Critics weren’t too impressed with the movie, which presently sports activities an underwhelming 47% critic rating and a 5.9 out of 10 common ranking on Rotten Tomatoes. What’s odd is that, in keeping with RT, the movie additionally didn’t impress audiences all that a lot, hitting simply 44% on the usually far more forgiving Popcornmeter. It is a film that made greater than half a billion on the field workplace and which attained a sure cultural standing as one of many extra well-received motion absurdities of the final decade or so. It wasn’t fairly the all-out silliness of a “Sharknado” but it surely wasn’t far off, and it nonetheless managed to grow to be a significant field workplace hit. It even spawned a sequel titled “Meg 2: The Trench,” which debuted in 2023 and made virtually $400 million on a $129 million funds. So, why such meager scores?
That, very similar to the movie’s renewed success, stays a little bit of a thriller. Nonetheless, “The Meg” is definitely price a watch should you’re but to see it, if solely to make your individual thoughts up about what the heck is happening over on Rotten Tomatoes and Prime Video. Is “The Meg” so unhealthy it is good? Or is it simply unhealthy? Those that’ve but to observe Jason Statham face off towards an enormous shark should be part of the streamers and make up their very own minds.
In the meantime, it will likely be attention-grabbing to see how for much longer this film can tread water within the Prime Video charts. So far, it has merely refused to die, and appears to be on one more upward trajectory, having hovered across the quantity seven mark within the U.S. charts for the previous week. It is already outdoing the Will Smith and Gene Hackman thriller that is been dominating Prime Video of late, and if it continues to climb the charts, we’d see a Sharknado of our personal when it takes on the present reigning champ “Twisters.” If Statham can defeat a 75-foot monster shark then certainly he can take care of a couple of tornadoes.
