‘Meg 2: The Trench’ Chews Up Prehistoric Ideas of How a Chinese Movie Should Be Made
04.08.2023 - 20:33
/ variety.com
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Meg 2: The Trench” serves up a school of prehistoric fish that chew up the seas, a snapping pack of imaginary hybrid dinosaurs that wreak havoc on land and a surprising cinema business model — the Chinese-controlled franchise intended for a global audience. And while early reviews are predictably mixed, the film’s box office debut looks promising. In China, on Friday, it bit off a $19.5 million first day and enjoyed a 50% market share.
In North America, opening weekend forecasts are for a $30 million mouthful. Outwardly, the new movie has the look and feel of summer season Hollywood popcorn fare, including Jason Statham beating up things even bigger than himself, a gang of strictly one-dimensional bad guys and Warner Bros. handling a wide global release.
The introduction of Chinese superstar Wu Jing and some Hainan Island backdrops may give clues to the film’s Middle Kingdom pedigree. But only a deeper dive below the movie’s surface reveals that “Meg 2” is not simply a China-U.S. co-production — a species that largely died out in the 2010s – but rather a Chinese-controlled franchise movie.
And, instead of being limited by language or politics, it is tailored for global audiences. “We control 100% of the IP, it is our franchise and we were responsible for making the commercial arrangements with our partners Warner Bros.,” says Catherine Ying Xujun, CEO of Shanghai-based CMC Pictures and Gravity Pictures. “Our collaboration with Warner back in 2018 [on “The Meg”] was a big success.
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