The Sci-Fi Box Office Hit That Guillermo Del Toro Almost Produced

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It's been a long road, getting from there to here. 

Jon Turteltaub's 2018 shark thriller "The Meg" was based on Steve Alten's novel "Meg" that was published way back in 1997. The book was optioned for a film adaptation by Hollywood Pictures, a Disney subsidiary, the year prior, and several screenplay drafts were immediately written. Jeffrey Boam ("The Lost Boys," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," "Lethal Weapon 2" and "3") was said to have written an adaptation of "Meg," but Disney didn't like it. Indeed, none of those screenplays were deemed good enough to develop into an actual feature, and three years passed without any movement on the project. In 1999, the rights reverted to Alten. 

Then, in 2005, the book was optioned again, this time by New Line Cinema. The new version of "Meg" was going to be an impressive affair, with Shane Salerno ("Armageddon," the "Shaft" remake, "Avatar: The Way of Water") as its screenwriter, and Jan de Bont ("Twister," "Speed") as director. A 2008 report in the Los Angeles Times even noted that "Meg" was going to have an impressive budget of $75 million, and that Guillermo del Toro was to serve as a producer. In 2005, del Toro had already made the hit film "Hellboy" and had also already made the awards darling "Pan's Labyrinth," so he was a force to be reckoned with. 

Sadly, by 2008, the project had fallen through. The Times reported that New Line developed "Meg" for two years, but also couldn't come up with a script and that New Line didn't assemble del Toro, de Bont, or Salerno themselves, making them skeptical of the expensive project. De Bont was upset. He said it was a missed opportunity.

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The Los Angeles Times article quoted Alten as to why the initial Disney project from the 1990s fell apart, and, boy howdy were some of the script ideas dumb. It seems in one early draft, the shark was given the ability to fly. According to Alten:

"They stuck wings on the shark. [...] I'm not kidding! They wouldn't listen to anything I had to say. My role has got to be to keep the science and not the ridiculousness for Hollywood's sake. One screenwriter had the shark growling." 

The 2005 version, meanwhile, had nothing but good vibes. Jan de Bont was totally on board, saying, "From the beginning, I loved the project." The script, it seems, was handed to de Bont by producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin (the team who worked on "Hellboy," who, in turn, was given it by Guillermo del Toro. With the screenplay, director, and producer in place, some work actually got done. De Bont drew up some storyboards, and a 5-foot model of the shark was built as a means to entice other producers and investors. The project was coming along. 

But then, after everything had been set up and budgeted, New Line balked. It seems that the film would cost $157 million, which was unbearable in 2005. A lengthy negotiation process commenced, with New Line insisting on a smaller and small budget with each call. Eventually, they tried to get a $100 million version. By then, though, it was 2006 and everyone lost interest. Del Toro left for better things, and de Bont sadly let the project go. De Bont still has a shark's tooth in his office to commemorate his work on the project. 

"The Meg" passed hands one more time, passing briefly through Eli Roth's hands in 2015, before finally finding Jon Turteltaub as director. Shooting began in 2016, and the film, starring Jason Statham, finally came out in 2018. It cost about $178 million. It made $530 million back.