''Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus'' is a 2010

disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

by The Asylum, released on December 21, 2010, in the United States. The film stars Jaleel White, Gary Stretch,

Robert Picardo Robert Alphonse Picardo (born October 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the Doctor on '' Star Trek: Voyager''. He also appeared as Richard Woolsey in the ''Stargate'' franchise, the Cowboy in '' Innerspace'', Coach ...

, Dylan Vox, Hannah Cowley and Sarah Lieving. The film is a sequel to the 2009 film ''

Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus ''Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus'' is a 2009 American-British Monster movie, monster disaster film distributed by The Asylum, released on May 19, 2009, in the United States and on August 7, 2009, in the United Kingdom. It was directed by Ace Han ...

'' and is the second installment in the '' Mega Shark'' series of films, but contains little of the original cast from that film.

Plot

Deep in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

, an illegal diamond mining operation awakens a giant prehistoric crocodile. Meanwhile, on the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, the US Navy warship USS ''Gibson'' is attacked and sunk by the

megalodon ''Otodus megalodon'' ( ; meaning "big tooth"), Common name, commonly known as megalodon, is an extinction, extinct species of giant mackerel shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago (Mya), from the Early Miocene to the Earl ...

that ended up surviving suffocation by the octopus in the first film. Lt. Terry McCormick who was experimenting with a sonic shark-repelling device, is the sole survivor of the attack. Back in DR Congo, an English hunter named Nigel Putnam is hired by a representative of the mining company, the rich businesswoman Legatt, they travel to the site of the attack, however the crocodile devours Legatt whole but he successfully captures the giant crocodile when it attempts to eat him, but he injects his tranquilizer darts into its mouth. He then has the crocodile delivered to a shipping yard for his friends to load it on a cargo ship. In

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, McCormick is being interrogated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Special Agent Hutchinson for the USS ''Gibson'' incident. He feels responsible for the sinking, suggesting that his sonic device lured in the megalodon. Because of this, he offers to help Hutchinson hunt down the megalodon with his invention. Meanwhile, a cargo ship is carrying the tranquilized crocodile on the Atlantic Ocean 400 miles south of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. It is revealed that the ship is also carrying the crocodile's eggs. Then, without warning, the ship is attacked by the megalodon, waking up the crocodile from its sleep. Putnam and his partner Jean jump overboard before the ship is destroyed in the ensuing battle. Aboard the aircraft carrier USS ''Lexington'', McCormick is introduced to Admiral Calvin, who informs him that his elite crew has only one objective: to hunt down and destroy the megalodon. McCormick is given a room aboard the carrier, and the most advanced tracking equipment. Hutchinson is sent to a remote island to meet and interrogate Putnam, who had just washed up ashore following the cargo ship incident. Hutchinson is shocked when Putnam informs her of the crocodile he captured, as her team was only aware of the megalodon. She then has him handcuffed and brought back to the carrier. Once there, the crew discover the appearance of eggs on another island. Adm. Calvin assigns McCormick to accompany Hutchinson and Putnam and capture an egg. Upon arriving on the island, they discover that the eggs are laid by the shoreline and are about to hatch. When the fin of the megalodon is seen nearby, Hutchinson orders the ''Lexington'' to launch a missile strike on the island. As the team leaves the island, the megalodon swallows the eggs, angering the crocodile, while a squadron of F-18 Hornets fire their missiles at a cave holding more eggs. As the crocodile invades

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

and heads toward Orlando, McCormick suggests using an arc flash powered by the nearby Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station to ward it off. The gamble works, as the arc flash sends the crocodile back into the sea. Back aboard the ''Lexington'', Putnam suggests dissecting a crocodile egg to find its vulnerable factors; the team is informed that one egg is aboard the submarine ''USNS Invincible'' and two are being transported by Black Hawk helicopters. They also discover that the megalodon is attracted to the eggs, as it has devoured the ''Invincible'' and the Black Hawks transporting them. As no cage or trap is big enough to capture both creatures, Putnam suggests luring both the megalodon and crocodile into the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

, much to McCormick's disapproval. The submarine USS ''Argonaut'' is sent to the wreckage of the cargo ship to retrieve some crocodile eggs. The retrieval mission is a success, and the eggs are dropped into the Panama Canal. Instinctively, both the megalodon and the crocodile arrive at the canal, where they battle each other while being attacked by the Navy. The fight causes a tidal wave that destroys the entire Panama Canal as both creatures continue to bite each other. It turns out that the crocodile has adapted itself to lay more eggs during the time the megalodon devoured the earlier batches. Hundreds more eggs have been laid all over the American coastline and are hatching. While crocodile hatchlings are attacking the

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

pier, the nuclear submarine USS ''Carter'' is in pursuit of the two giant creatures, which are heading towards

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. The ''Carter'' fires a nuclear torpedo at the creatures but misses, and is swallowed by the megalodon. This results in the megalodon becoming an even bigger threat, as it now has a nuclear reactor inside it. As the crocodile invades Hawaii, it causes the helicopter carrying McCormick, Putnam and Hutchinson to crash. With Hutchinson unconscious, McCormick and Putnam leave her and take a raft to drop McCormick's sonic emitter in the sea as part of their new plan: to lure all the creatures together near an undersea volcanic range. The sonic emitter lures the adults, who fight each other, and the crocodile hatchlings come to assist their mother. McCormick and Putnam are then picked up by Hutchinson, who has recovered and reactivated her helicopter. The volcano explodes and detonates the nuclear core in the shark, the combined force killing both the adults and hatchlings. The trio fly home while the crocodile and shark, now completely charred and still latched on to one another, sink into the volcano. After the credits, Nigel meets up with Jean on a beach and mentions a giant lizard in Japan. He asks him if he's up for it, and his partner says, "On one condition - no more boats." They shake hands and head off on another adventure.

Cast

* Jaleel White as Lieutenant Terry McCormick, member of the US Navy * Gary Stretch as Nigel Putnam, a bountyhunter * Sarah Lieving as FBI Special Agent Hutchinson *

as Admiral Calvin, commander of the US Navy * Gerald Webb as Jean * Dylan Vox as Chief Warrant Officer Butowski * Hannah Cowley as Legatt, rich businesswoman who hires Putnam to take out the Crocosaurus * Michael Gaglio as Captain Smalls * Jessica Irvine as USS Omaha Captain * Steve Mason as Investigator * Neil Watson as an Investigator II * Robert R. Shafer as Charlie Ross * Darin Cooper as Commander Vail * Luke Noll as Hobo Rogers McFreely * Joey David Garcia as Teenager * Claire Scott as Teenager * Clem Hansen as Teenager * Sean Gillaspie as a Background Actor

Production

Connections with other Asylum titles

The film makes numerous references to ''

'', such as an autographed photo of singer/songwriter/actress

Debbie Gibson Deborah Ann Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She released her debut album ''Out of the Blue (Debbie Gibson album), Out of the Blue'' (1987) at age 16, writing and largely producing the material. The a ...

and the Japanese poster of the first film. In addition, scenes of people panicking are taken from the film '' Megafault''. The Mega Shark and Crocosaurus later appeared in the crossover film ''2025 Armageddon''.

Marketing

To promote the film, The Asylum participated in a competition to make the next

Doritos Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The concept for Doritos originated at Disneyland at a restaurant managed by Frito-Lay. In 1966, Doritos became the first ...

commercial for Super Bowl XLV. In the commercial, the megalodon attacks a naval fleet while Capt. Smalls (Michael Gaglio) asks if anything will satisfy its hunger. Then he hears a crunch and sees the janitor eating a bag of Doritos. In the next scene, a helicopter carries a giant Dorito chip over the ocean. The megalodon jumps and eats the chip before fleeing from the scene as the whole crew celebrate.

Reception

Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...

'' gave the film a scathing review, giving it a score of "1 Megacraposaurus" out of 5. The review commented that "movies like this always tread a fine line between anything-goes fun and merely insulting your intelligence, and this time The Asylum may have finally jumped the mega shark." Felix Vasquez, Jr. of ''Cinema Crazed'' gave the film one star, calling it "a tedious and horrific mess that at least gives audiences what it wants: A big croc eating people, a big shark eating people, and two gargantuan stock CGI animals battling it out for the fate of Earth. Or something."

Sequels

On March 24, 2012, Dread Central reported that The Asylum was developing a second sequel featuring the titular Mega Shark, titled ''Mega Shark Versus Mecha Shark''. The announcement came after the company realized the growing popularity of the character, including an online petition for a third chapter in the series. ''Mega Shark Versus Mecha Shark'' was released on January 28, 2014, with

reprising her role as Emma MacNeil from the first film. Despite earlier claims by the Asylum that ''Mega Shark Versus Mecha Shark'' would be the final film of the series, a fourth installment titled '' Mega Shark vs. Kolossus'' was released on July 7, 2015. The film features a new Mega Shark facing off against a giant robot named Kolossus awakened by Russian energy excavation. The Kolossus is heavily based on the "Colossal Titan" character featured in the

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

and

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

franchise ''

Attack on Titan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. It is set in a world where humanity is forced to live in cities surrounded by three enormous walls that protect them from gigantic man-eating humanoids referred to a ...

'', while incorporating elements of the Armada Suits featured in the Asylum's earlier film '' Atlantic Rim''.

References

External links

''Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus''
at The Asylum * * {{Mega Shark Films about crocodilians 2010 direct-to-video films 2010 films 2010 comedy horror films 2010 independent films American comedy horror films American disaster films The Asylum films Films set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Films set in Florida Films set in Hawaii Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Miami Films set in Panama Films shot in Los Angeles Giant monster films American natural horror films 2010s monster movies American sequel films Films about shark attacks Films directed by Christopher Ray American monster movies Films about sharks 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language comedy horror films English-language science fiction horror films English-language independent films