Here at Moonbase Alpha, we absolutely adore a good shark movie. Hell, we’ve even been known to adore a bad shark movie. As such, one of the upcoming movies that has us most excited is the big screen adaptation of Steve Alten’s famed Meg. And now comes word that there could well be more to come from this property if this first picture does well.

With production currently underway on the adap, Alten himself was recently asked by Bloody-Disgusting on the chances of Meg spawning some sequels, to which he enthused, “As for the Meg sequels – absolutely! If the movie does well, there will be sequels. Of course, that goes for any successful Hollywood movie.”

As Alten alluded to there, it does kind of go without saying that anything that’s remotely successful will likely end up with some sort of sequel or prequel been greenlit. Given how Alten is currently working on his sixth Meg novel, there’s clearly plenty of stories out there to pull inspiration from for any cinematic follow-up to next year’s adaptation.

In case you’re not familiar with MEG, Steve Alten’s MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror was released in 1997 and has spawned several follow-ups, with the action focussing on the 80-foot megalodon and the tale often described as “Jurassic Park with a shark” as the California coast is terrorized by this ancient threat.

The current synopsis for the movie adaptation reads:

A deep-sea submersible – part of an international undersea observation program – has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific… with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer, against the wishes of his daughter Suyin, to save the crew – and the ocean itself – from this unstoppable threat: a prehistoric 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon. What no one could have imagined is that, years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying creature. Now, teamed with Suyin, he must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below… bringing him face to face once more with the greatest and largest predator of all time.

Meg currently has a strong ensemble cast assembled, with Jason Statham, Cliff Curtis, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Li Bingbing, Winston Chao, Page Kennedy, Jessica McNamee, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Sophia Shuya Cai, Masi Oka, and Robert Taylor all on board.

To be directed by Jon Turtletaub, Meg is currently set to swim to the silver screen on August 10th, 2018.