Source: Variety

According to Variety, New Line Cinema has picked up Meg: Primal Waters, Steve Alten's bestselling novel which it hopes will be it's next big franchise.

Jan de Bont is attached to direct and will share producing duties with Guillermo del Toro, Alten's managers Ken Atchity and Chi-Li Wong, as well as Nick Nunziata, editor of the fan site Chud.com.

"Meg" tells the story of a 80-foot-long prehistoric shark, scientifically known as Carcharodon megalodon and believed by some to be an ancestor of the great white shark, which terrorizes the California coast. Two men from opposite points of view are forced to come together to neutralize the threat.

Disney bought the book after it came out in 1997 and developed it for three years until its option expired. Alten then wrote a script on his own and connected with Nunziata, a longtime fan of his work, in an interview.

Nunziata passed the project along to pal del Toro, who agreed to produce and brought on his "Hellboy" partners Gordon and Levin. New Line exec Jeff Katz learned the book was available last year after reading about it on Alten's Web site. Lengthy negotiations were pushed along when de Bont and producers built a model of the shark that impressed studio execs, reports the trade.

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