Actress Li Bingbing nearly dies while shooting 'The Meg'

Her co-star Jason Statham agreed and said The Meg was probably the most challenging film he had ever worked on. He added that it was very hard to communicate when shooting underwater scenes because they require a lot physical strength, endurance, and patience. "Everything, from camera adjustment to lighting, is totally different from how we shoot scenes on land."

The film's principal photography was shot in New Zealand in 2016.

The Meg is based on the sci-fi book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror written by Steve Alten in 1997. The film, starring Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis, is a story about a group of people who encounter and fight a monstrous megalodon, a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark once thought to be extinct, but which rises from the depths off the Chinese coast to wreak havoc upon those in its way.

The Meg was described by Chinese audiences as a "deep ocean version of Jurassic World." the director joked at the press conference, "I hope it is, because 'Jurassic World' made a ton of money."

The film will hit Chinese screens on August 10, 2018.