The Meg, starring Jason Statham, devoured the competition at the box office this weekend with the big budget shark thriller having better than expected sales.
The film took in an estimated $44.5 million, more than doubling the second place film, Mission Impossible: Fallout (which was in its third weekend), which took in $20 million. The rest of the top five consisted of Christopher Robin ($12.7 million in its second week), Slender Man ($11.3 million in its opening weekend) and BlacKkKlansman ($10.8 million in its opening weekend, the best opening for Spike Lee in a decade).
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This is Warner Bros’ best opening weekend of the year so far, surpassing Ready Player One’s $41.7 million and Ocean’s 8’s $41.6 million. The Meg also made $96.3 million overseas, for a $141.3 million global total.
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Warner Bros’ head of domestic distribution, Jeff Goldstein, gave his thoughts as to why the film did so well, “It’s just good popcorn entertainment that didn’t take itself too seriously,” he said. “It’s silly, it’s fun, and it lets audiences have a good time.”
The film (a co-production between Warner Bros. and Flagship Entertainment, a special production group formed as a partnership between WarnerMedia and a Chinese media consortium) had a $130 budget, so it has a ways to go before it makes enough money to justify its high cost, but it already beat estimates for its opening weekend, so it is off to a great start.
In theaters nationwide, director Jon Turteltaub’s The Meg stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Masi Oka, Cliff Curtis, Page Kennedy, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao and Rainn Wilson.
(Via Variety)