A few lifetimes ago I acquired the rights to a novel I loved about a giant shark and a year later Guillermo del Toro was involved as well as producer Lloyd Levin and we had a deal at New Line. Then Jan de Bont came onboard to direct, Shane Salerno wrote a few drafts based on book author’s Steve Alten’s original script, and we were off to the races. The studio then made some bad financial decisions and MEG was the collateral damage. Then development hell happened and MEG went from a much-publicized Summer movie to one of those Hollywood stories of ones that got away.
