Fan Bingbing to join US-China co-production "The Meg" to fight Jason Statham

It was previously reported that Jason Statham will star in an action film "The Meg" about fighting a giant shark. Recently, another big news came out about this film: Jason Statham will co-star with Fan Bingbing to challenge the prehistoric beast together. Warner Bros. Pictures also announced that the film is scheduled to be released in North American theaters on March 2, 2018.

The Meg is a large-scale Sino-US co-production jointly developed and produced by Gravity Pictures and Flagship Pictures under the Chinese Culture Foundation, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Abilities Entertainment. The film is adapted from the science fiction series of the same name by American writer Steve Alton.

An international scientific research project led by China was being carried out in the depths of the Mariana Trench when it was attacked by an unknown creature and the researchers were trapped on the seabed. Jonas Taylor, a former deep-sea diving expert of the US Marine Corps, was ordered to rescue them and once again encountered the prehistoric creature Megalodon, which had left him with an indelible memory for life in the deep sea several years ago. Jonas teamed up with Zhang Suyin, a Chinese female scientist in the scientific research project, to successfully rescue the trapped personnel, but the rescue operation accidentally caused the Megalodon to escape from the deep sea. When the prehistoric monster returns to the shallow sea, humans will pay a heavy price for their greed for nature.

Joe Dettuba, the director of the National Treasure series, will direct The Meg. Jason Statham, who is well known to Chinese audiences for his roles in Fast & Furious 7 and The Expendables, has been confirmed to play the male lead, Jonas. Fan Bingbing will play the female lead, Zhang Suyin, in The Meg, her first challenge as the female lead in an English-language film. In addition to Fan Bingbing, other Chinese actors will also play major roles. The film is expected to start shooting this year and will be shot in China, New Zealand and other places.

In early 2014, Gravity Pictures and the publisher of the novels in the "Megalodon" series, American Abili Entertainment, reached a cooperation agreement to develop a film of the same name. After two years of script polishing and preparatory work, they successfully joined hands with Warner Bros. and Flagship Pictures to jointly develop and produce this sci-fi disaster film and present it to global audiences in 2018. Gravity Pictures, as a film company specializing in film investment and production under the Chinese Cultural Fund, will be responsible for the distribution of "Megalodon" in China, while Warner Bros. will be responsible for the distribution of the film outside of China. "Megalodon" will be the first Sino-US co-production masterpiece jointly created by the Chinese Cultural Fund and Warner Bros. Pictures after the strategic cooperation to establish Flagship Pictures.