Chinese singer/actress Li Bingbing (Ada Wong, Resident Evil: Retribution) is in final talks to join the mega shark film Meg, according to Variety. She will be joining Jason Statham, Ruby Rose, and Jessica McNamee. Fan Bingbing was supposed to star in the film but the site reports that she has since departed due to scheduling issues.
National Treasure helmer Jon Turtletaub will direct the film, set for sail on March 2, 2018.
The movie is centered on an international underwater observation program, led by Chinese scientists, which comes under attack by an unknown danger. With its deep-sea submersible disabled and trapped at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, they need rescue. Statham will portray a former naval captain and expert deep-sea diver, who’s recruited for a likely suicide mission — even though he faced the predator years before and was forced him to abort his mission and abandon half his crew.
The story is based on Steve Alten’s novel “MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror,” published in 1997. The title is derived from the ancient Megalodon species that has survived while being trapped in the Mariana Trench due to a barrier of cold water.
The film will be co-financed by Flagship Entertainment; Gravity Pictures, a division of China Media Capital (CMC); and Warner Bros. Gravity Pictures will distribute the film in China, with Warner Bros. handling the film throughout the rest of the world.
Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Belle Avery and Colin Wilson are producing. Executive producers are Wei Wayne Jiang, Barrie M. Osborne, Randy Greenberg and Gerald R. Molen.