New Image From 'The Meg' Offers Fresh Look at the Giant Shark

In the seminal shark film Jaws, a fish of otherworldly proportions stalked an island community in New England, making residents fearful of the water. While that film's killer animal may have been enormous, it is completely dwarfed by the villain of The Meg, which explores a world in which a prehistoric megalodon has survived and made its presence known to researchers. Check out the size of the beast in a new image below.

"With its crew trapped inside as the submersible lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific, expert deep-sea rescue diver Taylor is recruited by visionary Chinese oceanographer Dr. Minway Zhang to save the crew — and the ocean itself — from the unstoppable over-sized shark. Taylor, who encountered the terrifying creature years before, will team with Suyin and must confront his fears to save everyone trapped below — bringing him face to face once more with the greatest and largest predator of all time."

Based on a novel by Steve Alten, this new film makes a few deviations from the source material, which the author himself supports.

"I know there are some of you who are disappointed that the movie varies from the book," Alten shared in a Facebook post which has since been deleted. "I completely understand, and take it as a compliment. However, you are basing your opinion on a few minutes of trailers – and some seriously great footage. The Mariana Trench looks incredible in the International trailer. As far as the Meg being albino – they tried. Albinos in real life don't look natural, in CGI they look fake. I applaud their decision."

The film used CGI to bring its monster to life, but star Jason Statham felt it was his obligation to swim with real sharks before filming began.

"On the early stages of the prep, we took a trip to Fiji, and we went diving with some bull sharks," Statham revealed to Entertainment Weekly. "They hand-feed them and it's a spectacular thing to see. These things are three meters in length, huge big things. There were 20 or 30 of these things, and they were hand-feeding [them] big tuna heads, and we got very, very close, and it was a spectacular moment. To swim in close proximity to a big, three-meter shark, is to be recommended to all and everyone."

The Meg lands in theaters on August 10th.

Are you looking forward to the new film or have you had your fill of shark movies? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

[H/T Empire]