The Meg 2: The Trench

Do you like shark movies? I've been a big Ben Wheatley fan ever since the release of his 2023 movie, Meg 2. Before that, I really didn't understand any of his work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Meg 2 where the nuance of Jan and Erich Hoeber's writing became more apparent. I think it's the brothers' undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on environmental degradation. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding Meg movie. Observe the brilliant ensemble acting of Statham, Wu and Curtis. You can practically see every emotion on all their faces. In terms of filmic craftsmanship, the sheer editing, this movie hits a new peak of professionalism. Ben Wheatley's directing career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. This is Meg 2, a great, great movie, a personal favorite.

Does that frame appear in the film?

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Meg 2? I wish!

Ugh, I'm not going to watch the film then. Sorry, BKB.

Turns out he nailed it.

The Meg 3: American Shark-o would get me into the theater.

No.. No he didn't nail it.. His initial prediction was $22-27 Million and it exceeded that, so go pound sand.. He changed his predictions on the 6th and prior to this, he had it listed as $22-27 Million , so in essence, these armchair box office analysts aren't always right.. It's sort of like moving the goal post every time these guys make predictions.. And to be fair, they predicted 20 Million for the MEG 2018 and it made $44 Million in it's weekend debut so there's that.. There is an audience for this you know??

"It exceeded that" is a funny way of saying "was only $3 million off." And every analyst revises their prediction as evidence comes in; sure beats doubling down on bad predictions. And even that revision was a full month before release. So yeah, he nailed it.

Tell me about it. Some of them thought it would make three times this!

Right, moving the goal posts like predicting a film will make $100 million in August and then, when that's comically far off, saying it was just because it was in August.

how does a movie this bad have this much discussion?

Because literally half the responses are from one person.

Ah, the joys of watching someone who was completely wrong, flail hopelessly at trying to convince everyone that they didn't just totally shit the bed.


Then the despair when one realizes they probably are still somehow able to convince themselves that they weren't wrong, and so will continue to never learn anything, ever, and this cycle of wrongness will echo through all eternity

Yeah, it's unfortunate that counterfactuals are simultaneously really important for clear thinking and magic intellectual escape hatches for rationalizations.

Of course, counterfactuals don't really work as an excuse after you've essentially guaranteed something would happen. Repeatedly.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

Props again for this.

MEG III incoming and the process will repeat, only I'll have to consider my box office predictions when the time comes since Gen Z doesn't care for movies like this unless they check all the boxes of DEI

https://www.cbr.com/meg-2-sequel-wildest-plotline/

Looks like this movie is a bonafide success and MEG III will eventually be greenlit.. See?? There really is an audience for this..

"There's an audience" is a massive goalpost move from "this is gonna be the hit of the summer."

And the idea that missing by an incredible $70 million can be attributed to any factor other than total misjudgment is absurd. Especially after guaranteeing that success, repeatedly.

This is one of those situations where trying to save face has the opposite effect.

In a Pre-Pandemic world where Gen Z soy boys were dormant, this movie would've done ALOT better marketed properly and you and I and the rest of the herd can agree to disagree to ad nauseum over it, but it is true..

Yeah, again, the idea that this accounts for a prediction three to four times the actual gross is silly on stilts. That's a miss so big that no amount of armchair cultural pontification can explain it away. There ain't enough soy in the world, dude.

But whatever excuse you care to use, it was always possible something like that would happen, which is why it's usually smart to express some nuance, and demonstrate some humility. Instead of going the opposite way and repeatedly guaranteeing success:

If you go that route, you can't play the counterfactual game:

There's no way this was making that much money