Jason Statham's monster shark movie surpasses expectations with $44.5 million to harpoon the biggest shark movie opening ever.
- Aug 13, 2018
AceShowbiz - Jason Statham's new monster shark movie "The Meg" has taken a huge bite out of the North American box office.
The film has debuted with a strong $44.5 million (GBP34.8 million) to harpoon the biggest shark movie opening ever.
"The Meg" has out-performed experts' expectations, hauling in more than twice Mission: Impossible - Fallout's weekend, to end Tom Cruise's latest number one run.
The latest "Mission: Impossible" blockbuster slips to two.
"The Meg", which was Warner Bros. studio bosses' biggest opening of the year so far, also impressed outside North America, raking in close to $100 million (GBP78 million). That figure, added to the U.S. box office tally takes the film past its $130 million (GBP102 million) production budget.
Meanwhile, Disney's Winnie the Pooh update, Christopher Robin, starring Ewan McGregor, has picked up another $12.7 million (GBP10 million) at the North American box office to take third place, while low-budget horror movie Slender Man debuts in fourth after already meeting its $10 million (GBP7.8 million) budget in its first weekend on release.
And director Spike Lee's hard-hitting new movie "BlacKkKlansman", about a real-life African-American police officer's efforts to infiltrate white power organisation the Ku Klux Klan, debuts at five with a healthy $10.8 million (GBP8.5 million).
The movie, starring Denzel Washington's son John David, was a big hit at the Cannes Film Festival in May, picking up the Grand Prix award for Best Film.
"BlacKkKlansman" debuted on Friday - the first anniversary of the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia rally, during which a white power activist rammed his car into a group of Black Lives Matter protesters.
Top Ten Movies at Weekend Box Office for August 10-12:
- "The Meg" - $44.5 million
- "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" - $20 million
- "Christopher Robin" - $12.4 million
- "Slender Man" - $11.3 million
- "BlacKkKlansman" - $10.8 million
- "The Spy Who Dumped Me" - $6.6 million
- "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" - $5.8 million
- "The Equalizer 2" - $5.5 million
- "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" - $5.1 million
- "Ant-Man and the Wasp" - $4 million