However, director Jon Turteltaub admits to Bloody Disgusting that the decision to keep The Meg a PG-13 movie was ultimately his own.
The difference between who can see a PG-13 movie and who can see an R-rated movie is significant and frequently studios don’t want to artificially limit things like that.
It’s not uncommon for some films to need to be toned down in order to hit a wider audience.
He didn’t want people who don’t like excessive blood and guts to have to skip the movie since the story didn’t actually require the more violent scenes.