Summary
- The Meg 2 aims to be a fun and entertaining summer hit, with Jason Statham returning as the lead actor to face off against the Megalodon.
- The budget for The Meg 2 is estimated to be $185 million, indicating Warner Bros.' high expectations for it to become a successful franchise.
- To be considered a box office success, The Meg 2 needs to earn at least $380 million worldwide, doubling its budget and emulating the original film's financial performance.
The Meg 2: The Trench is gearing up to be another summer 2023 box office hit. Following the massive momentum of Barbie and Oppenheimer, The Meg 2 aims to be the fun-loving summer popcorn entertainment often found with August theatrical releases. Jason Statham returns as leading actor Jonas Taylor, an ex-Martine turned deep-sea diver who gets discharged from active duty because no one believes that he and his squad were attacked by a Megalodon, an enormous prehistoric shark.
The Meg sequel will feature Statham coming face-to-face with the Meg and has the potential to be one of the purely thrilling and unserious action movies of the summer. With the impressive financial success of the original Meg film, The Meg 2 has high hopes of outperforming its original 2018 installment which generated roughly $527 million at the global box office from a staggering budget of $130 million. The Meg 2 will have to cross specific monetary thresholds to be considered a box office hit.
The Meg 2's Budget Is An Estimated $185M
The production budget for The Meg 2: The Trench is an estimated $185 million. The budget for 2018's original The Meg was $130 million (via Box Office Mojo), which is equivalent to roughly $158 million today adjusting for inflation. As with most big-budget blockbuster sequels, The Meg 2 likely received a sizable boost to its budget with the intention of it becoming a major franchise. Warner Bros. has a lot at stake with The Meg 2 and was likely looser with its budgetary restrictions considering the potential for The Meg to become a staple of their creative arsenal.
With conflicting reports that the original Meg film could have cost as much as $178 million (via The Numbers), it's possible that The Meg 2's budget could surpass $200 million, which would not be uncommon for major franchise movies with 2023 releases that rely heavily on CGI. Other examples in this category include the $200 million The Flash, the $200 million Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and the $195 million Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. With some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters costing as much as $250-300 million nowadays, it wouldn't be surprising if The Meg 2 toed the line of a $200+ million budget.
The Meg 2 Needs At Least $380M At The Box Office To Succeed
The Meg 2 needs at least $380 million, or just above double its budget, for it to be considered a box office success. Considering that the original movie made more than half a billion dollars, The Meg franchise would be considered in great health if it can at least double the estimated budget of $185 million and generate around $370–390 worldwide. With the overall decline of general interest in going to the movies that has largely defined the 2023 box office outside of Barbie and Oppenheimer, The Meg 2 could catch the wind of the recent theatrical phenomenon and outperform itself just as its original movie did in 2018.