By Allison Watkinson
TLL Reporter
CMC Pictures has signed Striker Entertainment LLC to handle the worldwide licensing and merchandising for Meg 2: The Trench.
The deal between CMC Pictures and Striker was negotiated by the executive producer of the upcoming film Randy Greenberg.
Striker Entertainment is a full-service entertainment licensing agency that focuses on building brand equity for its clients through licensing and media partnerships.
“Striker gravitates towards IP that knows its audience and super serves it with entertainment and experiences that they love and want to bring home with them”, said Russell Binder, president of Striker Entertainment. “Meg 2: The Trench brings back the prehistoric mega-predator that thrilled megalodon and shark fans in 2018 and taps into our societal compulsive fascination with sharks that continues to show significant consumer growth.”
“We believe that Meg-heads and shark fanatics enthusiastically want to engage and extend their moviegoing experience with various products and experiences from the franchise,” Binder added.
Under the terms of the deal, Striker Entertainment will oversee the licensing of the Meg film franchise across multiple categories including toys and collectibles, lifestyle products, publishing, digital collectibles, gaming, and more.
Meg 2: The Trench is the sequel to the original sci-fi horror film, The Meg, which was released in 2018. The main focus and antagonist of the Meg film franchise is a massive prehistoric shark called the megalodon. Meg 2: The Trench is scheduled for release by Warner Bros. Pictures and CMC Pictures in 2023.
“CMC is thrilled to be the stewards of these rights on behalf of our partners, Warner Bros., and we believe that Russell and Striker Entertainment have the right strategic viewpoint and outreach to properly license these rights to fantastic creatively driven and consumer-centric partners worldwide and to create value for all our partners,” said Catherine Ying, executive producer of the Meg franchise, and president and CEO of CMC Pictures.
CMC Pictures is a Chinese film company that develops, produces, and markets live-action and animated films for both domestic and international distribution. CMC Pictures is the film platform of CMC Inc., a Chinese state-backed entertainment and media conglomerate.