A summer monster hit finds a new home
A 75-foot shark has resurfaced on free TV. As of August 1, Jason Statham’s 2018 creature blockbuster The Meg is streaming on Tubi, the ad-supported platform adding another big-ticket title to its rotation. The move gives anyone who missed it in theaters—or on its previous streaming runs—a chance to watch without a subscription.
Directed by Jon Turteltaub, The Meg follows deep-sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) after a submersible is mauled by a megalodon, a prehistoric shark long thought extinct. He teams up with oceanographer Suyin (Li Bingbing) and a research crew to stop the animal before it turns the open ocean into a buffet line. The cast also features Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis.
The Meg didn’t charm every reviewer, but audiences showed up in force. The film opened in U.S. theaters on August 10, 2018, and chomped through more than $529 million worldwide—making it Statham’s biggest solo box office play. It was a U.S.–China coproduction, leaned into PG-13 spectacle over gore, and delivered the kind of late-summer, grab-your-popcorn set pieces studios love. Think giant shark, crowded beaches, and a research station that probably needed more steel.
Tubi’s pickup adds to a wider licensing shuffle. Over the last few years, The Meg has hopped between services, including a U.S. stint on HBO Max (now Max) and a global wave on Netflix. Tubi says the film will stream for a limited time, which is standard for free, ad-supported platforms that refresh their lineups monthly.
If you’re in mood for a double feature, Tubi also has Meg 2: The Trench (2023) in the mix, plus a run of other action-friendly titles like Baby Driver, Godzilla vs. Kong, and the Lethal Weapon franchise. It’s a snapshot of where FAST (free, ad-supported television) is heading: bigger catalog titles, more franchises, and enough variety to keep you scrolling ads instead of menus.
Why The Meg still pulls viewers in
On paper, The Meg is a simple pitch—man vs. monster—but the details are what make it rewatchable. Statham plays it straight, grounding a wild premise with dry humor and a “get it done” vibe. The set pieces aim wide: tense rescue dives, a tourist-packed shoreline, and a bait-and-switch finale that actually earns the final roar. It never pretends to be anything but a glossy, crowd-pleasing creature feature.
The film is adapted from Steve Alten’s 1997 novel, trims down the more gnarly beats for a PG-13 audience, and puts the focus on teamwork rather than pure splatter. That choice broadened its appeal and helped it play across markets. It also gave Warner Bros. and its partners a franchise foundation—one that led to Ben Wheatley’s sequel in 2023 and a steady afterlife on streaming.
From a business angle, this Tubi window shows how studios are using free platforms to extend a movie’s tail after its paid runs. A title that already punched above its weight in theaters can find a second wind when the barrier to entry is “sit through a few ads.” And because FAST services surface movies in curated rows—“Shark Week,” “High-Octane Action,” “Summer Thrills”—discoverability gets a boost that pure search rarely delivers.
New to The Meg? Expect a lighter tone than the creature-horror tag suggests. It’s more high-gloss survival adventure than nightmare fuel. Families with teens can watch without hitting pause every five minutes, and action fans get clean, readable underwater sequences that keep the geography clear. It’s the kind of movie you can drop into on a weeknight and still catch the best beats.
Here are the quick basics if you’re skimming:
- U.S. theatrical release: August 10, 2018
- Director: Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure)
- Key cast: Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Cliff Curtis
- Runtime and rating: about 113 minutes, PG-13
- Worldwide box office: over $529 million
- Sequel connection: Meg 2: The Trench (2023) is also on Tubi
As always with free streamers, availability can shift. Tubi’s monthly adds and drops mean you might have a generous window—or a short one. If you want it in your queue, grab it now and finish later. The ads won’t kill the momentum; this one moves fast enough between set pieces that the breaks feel like extra breathers.
The bigger takeaway is about where the streaming market sits. Premium platforms still chase exclusives, but the free tier is increasingly where mass-audience movies live once the first rights run out. When a high-concept hit like The Meg lands there, it pulls in casual viewers who wouldn’t pay for a rental and nudges them toward sequels and adjacent titles. That cross-pollination is the play.
If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to revisit Statham submarine-punching his way through a toothy problem, this is it. The Meg streaming on Tubi brings a crowd-pleasing shark saga back within easy reach, just in time for peak summer couch season.
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