Jason Statham will face a giant shark in 2018

There was a rumour awhile back but now we know for sure - Meg is real and Jason Statham is going to come face to face with a giant shark.

An adaptation of Steve Alten's 1997 book has been in the works for almost 20 years, with various directors attached at different studios and millions of dollars already spent on development.

The book is about a massive Megalodon - a prehistoric shark ancestor which could grow to 20 metres in length - which has somehow survived to the present day, and the man who is obsessed with tracking it down.

Well that fella is now due to be played by Jason Statham, a US Navy diver turned paleontologist who has a complicated history with the beast. He's going to team up with a Chinese scientist in the film (played by Fan Bingbing) on a dangerous mission. Here's the plot synopsis from The Hollywood Reporter:

An international underwater observation program, led by Chinese scientists, is under attack by an unknown danger, and its deep-sea submersible lies disabled and trapped at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. With time running out, former Naval Captain and expert deep sea diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) is recruited by Dr. Zhang Suyin, lead oceanographer of the program, for what is likely a suicide mission.

Years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying threat, which forced him to abort his mission and abandon half his crew, resulting in disgrace and a dishonorable discharge. Now, Taylor must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below … bringing him face to face once more with the apex predator of all time.

It sounds like the good kind of silly, especially with Statham playing some emotional stuff and pretending to be afraid of a really big fish. The show will now be primarily set in China - to avail of some extra money - and is now being directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure).

Meg has been set for release in March 2018.