Taking advantage of the usual August release lull, The Meg – a killer shark movie starring Jason Statham that wasn’t expected to make much of a commercial splash — massively overperformed in its opening weekend, reaching the number one spot with a domestic haul of $44.5 million.
Combined with a big overseas opening of $97 million, The Meg’s worldwide debut stands at $141.4 million. That figure more than doubles what most analysts were predicting the film would earn in its opening weekend and also puts The Meg ahead of its reported $130 million budget. With little in the way of upcoming competition for the rest of August, The Meg could hold onto the top spot for the next few weekends in a row.
Despite middling review scores from critics (48% on Rotten Tomatoes), The Meg attracted enough moviegoers to knock Mission: Impossible – Fallout down to second place from its two-week perch at number one, with Fallout earning $20 million to bring its total domestic haul to $161.9 million. Disney’s Christopher Robin dropped to third place with $12.4 million.
In addition to The Meg, two other major releases debuted this weekend. Sony’s horror flick Slender Man came in fourth place with a somewhat disappointing $11.3 million, while Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman grabbed the fifth spot with $10.7 million – not a bad haul considering it was only released in 1,512 theaters.
Here were the top 10 highest-grossing films domestically for the August 10-12 weekend, according to Box Office Mojo:
- The Meg – $44.5 million
- Mission: Impossible – Fallout – $20 million
- Disney’s Christopher Robin – $12.4 million
- Slender Man – $11.3 million
- BlacKkKlansman – $10.79 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 – $4.04 million
