In the Meg movies, there’s no shortage of violent deaths. Both films feature a number of scenes where people are viciously killed, and the sequel in particular, Meg 2: The Trench, actually ups the ante by throwing more prehistoric monsters into the mix. It turns out, however, that the new blockbuster didn’t actually have to fight hard at all for its PG-13 rating from the MPA, and the content desires of director Ben Wheatley were satisfied in a way that also negated any need for an unrated cut.
The filmmaker spoke about Meg 2’s rating during an interview with CinemaBlend last week prior to the film’s theatrical release. Jon Turteltaub’s The Meg arrived in theaters in 2018 with a PG-13 rating, and I asked Wheatley if there was ever a conversation about making the sequel R-rated – or at the very least making an unrated cut for home video. He explained that the movie was designed to tiptoe on the edge of a more restricted rating when it was in production and the editing room, and ultimately there weren’t any standout issues because of the nature of the violence. Said Wheatley,
