Action hero Jason Statham returns in Meg 2: The Trench - with scenes of the jaw-dropping shark movie sequel filmed in landlocked Hertfordshire.
Back for seconds, Meg 2: The Trench is released today (August 4) and was filmed on soundstages at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden - home of the Harry Potter movies - and on location in Thailand.
The movie supersizes the original 2018 blockbuster, which took more than $500m worldwide, taking the action to even greater depths with multiple massive Megalodons, a mega octopus, and other prehistoric creatures.
Cinema audiences will dive into uncharted waters with Fast X's Statham as Jonas Taylor and global action icon Wu Jing as they lead a daring research team on an exploratory expedition into the deepest depths of the ocean.
Their voyage spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival.
With former Commonwealth Games diver Jason Statham once again headlining and now partnered with Wu Jing, star of five of the ten highest-grossing films in China, our unstoppable heroes battle a frenzy of ferocious Megs, led by the biggest Meg ever, along with new, never-before-seen creatures in a monstrously-sized action thriller.
While the source of the Megs is at the bottom of a trench in the Pacific Ocean, over 25,000 feet deep, large parts of the movie were filmed on various sound stages at Leavesden, including the studios' indoor and outdoor water tanks - turning them into spectacular submarine and rig sets - and the backlot.
Filming of Meg 2: The Trench took place in the winter and spring of 2022 at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, Watford, and locations in Phuket, Thailand.
Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden's website states: "All of the underwater filming took place on our indoor tank on D Stage, which is 6m deep and 20m wide."
The Leavesden film and TV studios posted on Instagram: "#Meg2 caused quite a splash at #WBSLeavesden 🌊
"Did you know we're one of the only film studios to have both interior and exterior tanks? We loved using these stages to the full when filming @megmovie!
"For all your water filming needs, film at #WBSL 💧"
Production designer Chris Lowe said: “In production design, there is a saying, 'We’re not making documentaries, we’re making movies.’ We’re taking people away from everyday life and putting them in environments that excite them.
"We go around a laboratory, and while they’re fascinating places, cinematically, they’re not that exciting.
"It’s the job of the art department to basically take the tropes of what is real and believable and push the boundaries, making sure that the audience feels that everything is real.
"We have a 65-foot shark that doesn’t exist anymore, so we’re taking giant leaps with people’s idea of believability. But it’s my job to complement that Meg.”
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For the Mana One Dive Centre in the Meg 2:The Trench, the majority of the structure was built above the exterior water tank at Hertfordshire's Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, with walkways hovering 30 feet above the surface.
The nearest sea to Hertfordshire is about an hour's drive away on the Essex coast.
Sharing behind-the-scenes pictures of the set, Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden posted on social media: "We love these spectacular sets from The Meg 2! 🌊🦈
"Huge congratulations to all the cast and crew of @megmovie, out in cinemas today! It was a pleasure to have you film on our stages, tanks and backlot, old chums! #FilmedAtWBSL #Meg2"
For the Club Paradise all-inclusive vacation mecca on Fun Island, filmmakers fashioned their South Seas haven - that soon becomes a nightmare! - at Phuket in Thailand.
Production primarily utilised the party/beach venue Paradise Beach, which boasted a picturesque beach with a jungle backdrop.
The location had seen a two-year downturn from the pandemic, and production was able to treat the shallow waters and cove as a blank canvas.
The design team constructed such key elements as a 200-metre jetty out into the sea and restaurant to create their luxurious holiday resort destination.
Production also created their very own studio backlot in a parking lot, which functioned not only as a base for costumes and props, but also a shooting location for intricate action sequences in the cabana, with water later added by VFX, among others.
The advantages of shooting such sequences on land included maintaining continuity of the sunny weather/environment and the reliability of not filming on water.
For the filming of all of the sequences on the water, which required around 40 boats and upwards of 200 crew members, production utilised a hotel near Paradise Beach that boasted its own pier - crew and vessels were able to launch from the pier in a safe and timely fashion.
To film the actors during their practical underwater work, production shot on Stage D at Leavesden, which features a tank six metres deep and 20 metres wide.
When the official trailer was released, Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden posted on social media: "We loved being home to the terrifying Meg at #WBSLeavesden!
"The production filmed on our stages and tanks."
The character of Coco - the bride from 'The Meg' - is now the social director for Club Paradise on Fun Island, and she naturally brings along fan-favourite Pippin the dog.
To create the Zhang Institute, Lowe collaborated with director Ben Wheatley on the research organisation and laboratory, looking to the real world for inspiration.
For the location, Lowe started with images of one of the most beautiful beaches in the Mediterranean, Voidokilia Beach, nicknamed Omega Beach because it resembles the Greek letter Omega.
For the institute itself, the design team looked to the London Aquatics Centre and modified the 'Manta ray design' to reflect the head of the institute’s culture.
Devising every terrifying act of the Megs began in the same place, according to director Wheatley.
“All the action with the sharks started with a pencil, me just sitting down and drawing, and thinking about what would be really fun to see.
"Then, I would go to our storyboard artist, Jake Lunt Davies, and together we would work out what the sequence was going to be.
"From there to the computer animators, who’d rough a version, then we’d cut that into the film, and then we’d go and shoot it.”
Many steps would follow and the whole journey for each shark encounter - from pencil to feature - took roughly six months.
The entire collection of storyboards for the film wound up with nearly 5,000 drawings.
- Meg 2: The Trench is out today - August 4.
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