20 Films to See in August

Action-adventure/Thriller | Directed by Ben Wheatley
Opens in theaters August 4
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When it was released in 2018, The Meg grossed more than $530 million at the global box office. That surprising number is why we now have a sequel, and Meg 2 comes with something even more unexpected: director Ben Wheatley of Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England, High-Rise, In the Earth at the helm. It’s Wheatley’s biggest budget to date, and, other than Free Fire (a mostly one-location shoot-em-up), he hasn’t previously dealt with major action set pieces. Luckily he has veteran action star Jason Statham, who returns as expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor in this adaptation of The Trench, Steve Alten’s follow-up novel to The Meg. He’s joined by a returning Cliff Curtis, Page Kennedy, and Sophia Cai, as well as newcomers Wu Jing and Skyler Samuels, to battle three relentless Megs.