"The Meg 2" Begins Production in UK Next Week

Production on "Meg 2: The Trench", the sequel to 2018's "The Meg", will begin next week in the UK at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden.

The first movie was filmed primarily in Auckland, New Zealand.

The change in filming locations is not the only thing that is changed in the upcoming sequel. It will be directed by Ben Wheatley, who replaces the film's first director, Jon Turteltaub.

"The Meg" sees Jason Statham reprising his role as Jonas Taylor, an adventurous paleobiologist who studies the megalodon, a giant and prehistoric shark species.

The movies are based on the Steve Alten sci-fi thriller book series of the same name, which follows Jonas Taylor on his undersea close encounters with prehistoric sharks.

The first movie in the franchise was released in 2018 and allocated $500 million at the box office.

The franchise follows Jonas Taylor five years after he encountered a megalodon. After a series of mysterious underwater attacks, Taylor ventures to Mana One, a subaquatic research facility, where he finds that the megalodon has followed.

"Meg 2: The Trench" follows the title of Alten's 1999 novel sequel to his 1997 novel "Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror".

It is written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, who also wrote the 2018 movie.