Forget Whalefall, Jason Statham’s 113-Minute Sea Thriller is Officially Streaming on Netflix

Jason Statham is back in shark-infested waters, and this time, Netflix UK subscribers can join the feeding frenzy. His 2018 creature thriller The Meg has resurfaced on the British streaming catalogue, offering a gloriously over-the-top alternative to Brian Duffield’s new ocean-survival drama Whalefall.

However, the film is not currently available on Netflix US, according to Flixboss’ American catalogue tracker. Directed by Jon Turteltaub, The Meg pits Statham against a gigantic prehistoric shark, turning a deep-sea rescue into an aquatic bloodbath. The film earned more than $529 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) despite its divisive reviews, proving that audiences had quite an appetite for its unapologetically outlandish premise.

With Whalefall exploring a very different kind of underwater nightmare, Statham’s monster-sized blockbuster is worth revisiting.

Why Did The Meg Become a $529 Million Hit?

Credit: Daniel Smith/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc

Based on Steve Alten’s 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, the film follows Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham), a disgraced rescue diver summoned to save scientists stranded in the Mariana Trench. Their predicament worsens when a supposedly extinct megalodon escapes into open water. Li Bingbing plays oceanographer Suyin Zhang, while Rainn Wilson portrays billionaire Jack Morris. Ruby Rose and Cliff Curtis round out the ensemble.

The film’s biggest asset is its gleefully preposterous premise. Statham’s deadpan heroics provide the perfect counterweight to a 75-foot prehistoric predator, allowing the spectacle to remain entertaining without becoming entirely self-serious. Director Jon Turteltaub acknowledged that balancing act in an interview with /Film:

He also explained that Jaws was too iconic to imitate directly, so the production sought to make its enormous shark behave like a plausible predator rather than a cartoon monster. The Meg walks a fine line between suspense and absurdity. Too serious, and its giant shark becomes laughable; too playful, and the tension goes belly-up. Turteltaub acknowledged the challenge, telling the Los Angeles Times:

The gamble paid off handsomely as The Meg earned approximately $529.3 million worldwide against a reported $130 million production budget. Critics, however, weren’t nearly as enthusiastic. The film holds a 47% Tomatometer and 44% Popcornmeter score, making its commercial success particularly striking.

Its box-office appetite ultimately proved considerably bigger than its critical bite.

How Does The Meg Compare With Whalefall?

Austin Abrams in a still from Whalefall | Credits: 20th Century Studios

The two ocean thrillers share an aquatic setting but approach survival from opposite directions. Brian Duffield’s Whalefall, which opened in theaters on October 16, follows Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams), a diver searching for his deceased father’s remains. Instead, he finds himself swallowed by a sperm whale, with only an hour of oxygen to escape. According to 20th Century Studios’ official synopsis, the film combines claustrophobic survival with a deeply personal father-son story involving Josh Brolin’s Mitt Gardiner.

Whalefall turns the ocean into a claustrophobic prison, while The Meg treats it as an enormous hunting ground. One asks whether its protagonist can survive his grief as well as his predicament; the other pits human ingenuity against a predator that technology has inadvertently unleashed. Turteltaub explained the appeal of sharks in an interview with ScreenCrush:

That painstaking realism contrasts with Turteltaub’s more playful approach, which eventually spawned Meg 2: The Trench (2023). The sequel earned approximately $398.5 million worldwide. Whalefall opened to an estimated $17.5 million globally, including $8 million domestically, against a reported $60 million budget. It’s an uphill swim for Duffield’s survival thriller, although comparing its opening weekend with The Meg‘s lifetime earnings isn’t a like-for-like contest.

Would you rather confront Statham’s prehistoric shark or endure the stomach-churning ordeal of Whalefall?

Share your verdict in the comments and follow FandomWire for more Jason Statham updates, Netflix releases, creature-feature thrillers, and Hollywood box-office retrospectives.