Jason Statham’s Sci-Fi Shark Movie Is Tearing Up Prime Video’s Charts

Considering Jason Statham’s standing as one of the pre-eminent action stars of his generation, there was always going to come a time when he battled a giant shark. After decades of facing off against the biggest action stars in the world, there was really nobody else equipped to deal with the man’s combat skills but a 75-foot long prehistoric Megalodon, and in 2018 audiences finally got to witness this historic showdown.

Directed by Jon Turteltaub (“Cool Runnings,” “National Treasure”), “The Meg” is loosely based on Steve Alten’s 1997 novel “Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror” and stars Statham as deep-sea diving specialist Jonas Taylor. After a team of scientists become trapped during a research trip, Taylor is called in to rescue the group in the depths of the Mariana Trench. Unfortunately, all this commotion awakens a gigantic shark long thought to be extinct, and the beast isn’t all that pleased about being disturbed. Of course, when Jason Statham is on your team, you’re always going to come out on top, and the final battle between the Megalodon and Statham’s diver makes for a delightfully ridiculous climax.

The movie went through a protracted development process to finally make it to the big screen, and at one point was almost produced by Guillermo del Toro. An early iteration of the film reportedly even featured a version of the titular shark that could fly, which might have been a step too far even for as silly a movie as “The Meg” turned out to be. While it might not be one of Statham’s best moviesthen, “The Meg” not only performed well at the box office upon its initial release, it has also seemingly retained its appeal, as Prime Video viewers have been streaming Statham’s shark showdown in earnest.

“The Meg” was added to Prime Video all the way back in November 2024, but for whatever reason has resurfaced to take a bite out of the streamer’s charts in recent weeks. According to FlixPatrola site that tracks streaming viewership data, the film is currently sitting at number seven on the Prime Video charts in the U.S. which perhaps isn’t the biggest triumph imaginable. But when you also consider that “The Meg” has been ranking on the streamer’s charts for the better part of a month, things start to look a little different.

Jason Statham’s over-the-top actioner has been a consistent hit on Prime Video, even dropping out of the charts on March 17, 2025, only to re-emerge the following day in the number 10 spot, before jumping three places to number seven as of March 19. What is propelling this renewed streaming success? That isn’t entirely clear, but “The Meg” refuses to sink and it may simply be as simple as Prime Video highlighting the movie at the top of its interface (that or audiences preparing for Statham’s upcoming actioner “A Working Man,” which reunites the star with his “The Beekeeper” director David Ayer and is due to reach theaters on March 28, 2025). Whatever the reason, “The Meg” continues to draw attention years after its box office triumph, despite some pretty lousy reviews.

When it hit theaters in 2018, “The Meg” made $527 million on a $178 million budget, making for a resounding success all around. Well, not really all around. Critics weren’t too impressed with the film, which currently sports an underwhelming 47% critic score and a 5.9 out of 10 average rating on Rotten Tomatoes. What’s odd is that, according to RT, the film also failed to impress audiences all that much, hitting just 44% on the typically much more forgiving Popcornmeter. This is a movie that made more than half a billion at the box office and which attained a certain cultural status as one of the more well-received action absurdities of the last decade or so. It wasn’t quite the all-out silliness of a “Sharknado” but it wasn’t far off, and it still managed to become a major box office hit. It even spawned a sequel titled “Meg 2: The Trench,” which debuted in 2023 and made almost $400 million on a $129 million budget. So, why such meager scores?

That, much like the film’s renewed success, remains a bit of a mystery. Still, “The Meg” is surely worth a watch if you’re yet to see it, if only to make your own mind up about what the heck is going on over on Rotten Tomatoes and Prime Video. Is “The Meg” so bad it’s good? Or is it just bad? Those who’ve yet to watch Jason Statham face off against a giant shark will have to join the streamers and make up their own minds.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see how much longer this movie can tread water in the Prime Video charts. Thus far, it has simply refused to die, and looks to be on yet another upward trajectory, having hovered around the number seven mark in the U.S. charts for the past week. It’s already outdoing the Will Smith and Gene Hackman thriller that’s been dominating Prime Video of late, and if it continues to climb the charts, we might see a Sharknado of our own when it takes on the current reigning champ “Twisters.” If Statham can defeat a 75-foot monster shark then surely he can deal with a few tornadoes.