'The Meg 2' director Ben Wheatley is die-hard fan of 'Jaws'

Steven Spielberg epic Jaws inspired many filmmakers - The Meg 2: The Trench's director Ben Wheatley is one of them.

During an interview with ScreenRant, the 51-year-old revealed he is an avid fan of the 1975's killer shark flick and watches the classic yearly.

The director also credited the monster movies besides the Academy-winning movie for inspiring his direction in his latest film based on Steven Allen novels.

"A lifetime of watching monster movies. It comes from, I think, being a kid and watching [Ray] Harryhausen's stuff; watching Jason and the Argonauts and Sinbad and all those movies. I remember watching Jaws as a kid on TV, and that blowing my mind," he continued.

Adding, "In fact, I've probably watched Jaws every year since and always see new things in it. It's not just the greatest shark film of all time, but one the greatest films of all time. So, I take a lot of influence from that. And then I really love the kind of 70s Godzilla stuff, then Shin Godzilla, and the current influence of legendary Godzilla movies. It's all that stuff."

"But then also, on the human side, it's kind of like Thing From Another World or those '40s science-based adventures with lots of characters trying to solve stuff, and that all feeds in. And Them!, the giant ant movie. It's a lot," Wheatley said.

The Meg 2: The Trench will open in the theatres on August 4.