‘Tomb Raider 2’: ‘Lovecraft Country’s Misha Green Replaces Ben Wheatley As Director

Deadline reveals that MGM Studios has lost director Ben Wheatley on their Tomb Raider sequel starring Alicia Vikander, they’ve hired Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green to both write and direct Tomb Raider 2.

This will be Green’s feature film directorial debut after directing an episode of Lovecraft Country. Her HBO series produced by Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams runs the gauntlet of genres between horror, action, thriller, crime, and science fiction. So, tackling the supernatural and action-adventure genre doesn’t seem like a huge stretch for Misha.

I do think fans are going to be puzzled why MGM was willing not to wait for someone like Ben Wheatley, who proved with his action-comedy Free Fire he really should be making more films within the action genre. He had recently signed-on to direct the sequel to Jason Statham’s The Meg for Warner Bros. and likely came into conflict with shooting Tomb Raider sequel.

Misha certainly has the writing chops to pen the film but given the scale of the film having her make a feature film debut might be scary to a lot of fans. I’m sure there is a reason why MGM selected her vision and didn’t go after a seasoned filmmaker to execute it.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Ben Wheatley To Direct Jason Statham In ‘The Meg 2’

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rebecca director Ben Wheatley has been hired by Warner Bros. to direct their sequel to the shark action flick The Meg.

The studio has set filmmaker Ben Wheatley, whose updated version of Gothic tale Rebecca debuted this week, to direct the sequel to its 2018 giant shark thriller hit, The Meg.

The original earned an impressive $530.2 million globally on a budget of $130 million.

THE MEG – Previously thought to be extinct, a massive creature attacks a deep-sea submersible, leaving it disabled and trapping the crew at the bottom of the Pacific. With time running out, a visionary oceanographer recruits rescue diver Jonas Taylor to save the crew and the sea itself from an unimaginable threat — a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark known as the Megalodon.

Ben Wheatley is no stranger to action with his excellent R-rated action comedy Free Fire that focused on a Boston arms deal with the IRA that goes sour very quickly which starred Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, and Sharlto Copley.

He was also tasked to direct the Tomb Raider sequel but we haven’t got many updates on that film recently from Warner Bros. or the trades.

Jason Statham is a busy bee lately as he filmed a thriller called Wrath of Man aka Cash Truck for director Guy Ritchie and will reunite with Ritchie for the spy flick Five Eyes.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER