Thanks to one of the stronger marketing campaigns in recent memory, Warner Bros.' The Meg is swimming to the top of the box office with a stellar $44.5 million opening weekend, the biggest debut ever for a monster shark movie. Overseas, the Jon Turteltaub-directed film collected $97 million, including a whopping $50 million from China alone, bringing its worldwide total to a massive $141.5 million, which is certainly not a bad start on its estimated $150 million production budget.
Despite a decidedly mixed reception from both critics and audiences alike, the film is now the tenth best opener of 2018, topping the openings of a number of major 2018 films, including Ready Player One ($41.7M), Ocean's 8 ($41.6M), and The Equalizer 2 ($36M). The Jason Statham-led feature also managed to eclipse the opening weekends of fellow actioners, Rampage ($35.7M) and Skyscraper ($24.9M), both of which star his Hobbs & Shaw co-star Dwayne Johnson.
Tom Cruise's critically-acclaimed action blockbuster, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, dipped to #2 in its third frame, but continues to show off an incredibly impressive amount of staying power with another $20 million stateside, bringing its domestic total to $161.9 million, which is 17% ahead of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation at the same point in its release cycle. The Chris McQuarrie-directed sequel also brought in another $38 million overseas, bringing its foreign total to $275.6 million (without China) and its worldwide total to an outstanding $437.5 million.
Meanwhile, Disney's Christopher Robin ($12.4M; $62.1M worldwide), Screen Gems' Slender Man ($11.3M - new), Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman ($10.7M - new), Lionsgate's The Spy Who Dumped Me ($6.6M; 26.2M worldwide), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again ($5.8M; $280.8M worldwide), Sony's The Equalizer 2 ($5.5M; $99.8M worldwide), and Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation ($5.1M; $378.2M worldwide) round out spots three through nine at the domestic box office.
Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp finished tenth in its sixth weekend with $4.04 million, but managed to top a big milestone as it's now crossed the $200 million mark domestically ($203.5M). The Peyton Reed-directed superhero vehicle has now earned over $448.9 million worldwide and is slated to debut in China on August 24.
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