Jason Statham faces the prehistoric sea monsters, alongside Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, and Cliff Curtis.

Meg 2: The Trench is here to wreak havoc along the shoreline, starting its box office run with a global debut of $142 million. Out of that impressive number, $30 million was earned domestically and $112 million internationally, as the sequel marks one of the final big releases of this summer movie season. Ben Wheatley was in charge of directing the second installment, after John Turteltaub helmed The Meg five years ago. The depths of the ocean are incredibly unpredictable, and the team of scientists featured in the franchise never know what to expect once they dive into the darkness of the sea.

In the sequel, Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) finds himself in bigger problems than the last time, as several giant creatures threaten the humans near the shoreline across different beaches. While the previous movie saw him going up against only a couple of Megs, the sequel makes a quick job of establishing that there’s so much more at stake in this adventure. After an illegal mining operation is discovered in the Mariana Trench, the people in charge of it decide to blow up it up, creating an opening for the creatures that lived down there to explore the surface, and it’s up to Jonas’ team to stop the sea monsters before they could deal more damage.

By comparison, when the first movie introduced audiences to this new universe where prehistoric giant creatures were still alive in the depths of the ocean, The Meg earned $45 million at the domestic box office during its debut. The numbers were surprising, as analysts didn’t expect the movie to make such an impact among the general audience. But the marketing that heavily featured the giant shark in mundane situations quickly gained the viewers’ interest, creating a success so satisfying for Warner Bros. that it led to a sequel.

What’s Next for The Meg?
There are currently no plans to develop a third Meg movie at Warner Bros. but that could change depending on the success the first sequel can obtain at the box office. The franchise is based on the novels written by Steve Alten. Considering that only two out of the eight books that were released have been adapted, there’s plenty of material for the studio to work with if they decide to move forward. Foreign markets, such as China where it has already grossed $53.3 million, will be crucial to determine if a third installment can be produced or not, as the next few weeks become very important for the survival of a shark species that was previously thought to be extinct.

You can check out Collider’s interview with Ben Wheatley below: