Eli Roth Takes A Bite Out Of MEG

Eli Roth is back making movies! This is good news for me, a fan of the guy's work. I know some of you won't be vibing as hard on the Rothessaince, but I think Eli has the exact right combination of visual chops, dark imagination and juvenile humor to make great movies. The biggest bummer about his latest films is that they're so low budget that they don't really reach the heights of a film like Hostel Part II, which I think is gorgeous. 

Which is why I'm excited that Roth is making the move to the big leagues, and will be directing Meg for Warner Bros. Yes, Meg, the long-in-development giant shark movie based on a novel by Steve Alten and, at one time, produced by my old boss Nick Nunziata. I had a little bit of a peek inside the sausage factory on that process, and I'll tell you something - there's no way the current script is worse than what was floating around a decade ago. 

Some big changes have already been made. For one thing the action has been moved from the coast of California to the coast of China, a move that guarantees international financing. That's the future, folks - everybody's going to China in all your favorite Hollywood franchises. The script, by Dean Georgaris, was apparently getting Warner Bros excited already, but you have to assume that Jurassic World making all the money really led to WB putting the pedal to the metal here. 

The Meg of the title is a Megaladon, a 60 foot prehistoric shark that eats people in the book. I assume he will do the same in the movie. How do you make a 60 foot shark seem special in an era of garbage fucking Sharknado and Sharktopus movies? Well, letting Roth go ham on it is a good start. I kind of doubt this will be an R-rated movie, but I think Roth can still create a lot of great visceral action scenes. And maybe, just maybe, WB will bow to the niche collector market and allow Eli to shoot some extra gnarly Meg kills for an unrated Blu. I'd buy that.