I was surprised to see that The Meg won the weekend box office and delivered a much larger opening than expected.
The action shark thriller opened in first place after delivering an outstanding opening of $44.5 million. The Meg delivered the largest opening weekend for a Warner Bros. film just ahead of the $41.7 million opening of Ready Player One and the $41.6 million opening of Ocean’s 8.
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The film does have a production budget of $130 million and the film did bring in a solid $96.8 million from the international markets to bring in a worldwide opening weekend of $140 million. A solid start for the film and I will be curious to see if the film can hold continued success over the coming weeks.
Mission: Impossible—Fallout dropped to second place after spending two weeks at the top of the box office. The film dropped 43 percent during its third weekend and brought in $20 million. The film is approaching $162 million domestically It is less than $20 million behind the original films domestic gross to becoming the fourth highest grossing film of the franchise.
Christopher Robin dropped one spot to third place after taking a 49 percent drop during its second weekend. The Disney film brought in $12.4 million and just passed $50 million domestically.
The new horror film Slender Man opened in fourth place with $11.3 million. This is a solid opening for a film that has a production budget of $10 million. I’m curious to see if this film will remain in the top five next weekend.
Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman opened in fifth place with $10.8 million. This is the biggest opening for Spike Lee in over a decade. The crime drama has received excellent reviews and I do think this film will have sustained success over the next few weeks.
The Spy Who Dumped Me dropped three spots and 45 percent during its second weekend. The action comedy brought in $6.6 million and is approaching $25 million domestically. I predict this film will finish just past $40 million domestically.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! brought in $5.8 million and finally crossed $100 million domestically. The musical has also brought in an impressive $280 million worldwide gross.
The Equalizer 2 ($5.5 million), Hotel Transylvania 3 ($5.1 million) and Ant-Man and the Wasp ($4 million) round out the rest of the top ten. Ant-Man and the Wasp did cross $200 million domestically.
The other new release Dog Days finished just outside the top ten at twelfth place. The film brought in $2.6 million and I don’t think that this film will reach the top ten during its theatrical run.
I’m very curious to see if The Meg can repeat as box office champion as it faces competition from two new wide releases including the action film Mile 22 starring Mark Wahlberg and Ronda Rousey.
Weekend Gross by Distributor:
Warner Bros.: $46.3 million
Sony Pictures: $22 million
Disney: $20.3 million
Paramount Pictures: $20 million
Focus Features: $10.8 million
Universal: $8.7 million
Lionsgate: $6.9 million
LD Entertainment: $2.6 million
20th Century Fox: $2.1 million
A24: $1.7 million
Next week’s openings: Alpha, Mile 22