The Meg hits theaters this week and we're starting to learn a lot more about the sci-fi horror thriller. According to director Jon Turteltaub, the film originally had too many R-rated gory scenes that had to be cut in order to keep the rating at PG-13. With that being said, the director promises that the film pushes the envelope for its current rating. In addition to learning more about The Meg, three brand-new international posters have been released, putting the focus on Jason Statham, Ruby Rose and Li Bingbing.
The Meg was always going to be in the PG-13 range, but Jon Turteltaub says that they filmed a lot of gory scenes that had to be taken out to keep the rating intact. Not only were some of the scenes filmed, but the digital effects were even complete for a number of them, only to get cut out at the last minute. In the end, Turteltaub thinks that the PG-13 rating will help the popularity of the film, letting the younger crowd get a crack at it. He explains.
"My wife is glad about it and I'm glad my kids can see the movie, but the number of really horrifying, disgusting and bloody deaths we had lined up that we didn't get to do is tragic... We shot or even did a lot of visual effects for (gory scenes)... We just realized there's no way we're keeping this PG-13 if we show this. It's too fun a movie to not let people who don't like blood and people who are under, say, 14 years old into the theater. I was very hesitant to cut out a lot of blood and gore. I wouldn't have if I thought it was wrecking the story but it wasn't."
From the early reviews, it seems that Jon Turteltaub made a wise decision in cutting out some of the more gory aspects of The Meg. Nearly all of the early reviews praise the movie for how fun it is, which is something that Turteltaub was striving to keep intact while editing the film. While some hardcore horror fans may be holding out for a director's cut of The Meg, the director says that it won't be happening, noting that nobody wants to spend millions just for some bonus features.
In other news for The Meg, three new international posters have just been released. One poster puts Jason Statham's Jonas Taylor character front and center, while the other new posters features Li Bingbing's Suyin Zhang and Ruby Rose as Jaxx Herd. These new posters put a focus on the horror elements with the water turned into black smoke, swirling around the characters. Bingbing's poster show the 75-foot prehistoric shark lunging at her, looking even creepier than ever before. In case you were keeping count, these are the 25th, 26th and 27th posters that have been released for the film.
The Meg is preparing to launch into theaters on Friday and it looks amazing. While some horror fans may be upset to learn that a lot of the gore was cut out of the film, it's important to remember that the Megalodon is the focus of this project. There's still plenty of gore, just not some crazy over-the-top stuff that would have made the movie an R-rated affair. You can read more about the initial cut of The Meg over at Bloody Disgusting and check out the new posters below.
