Shark or no shark, it looks like audiences could just not stay out of the water this weekend.The Megopened big, easily surpassing estimates by taking in $44.5 million in its first weekend. The film—which sees noted marine biologistJason Stathamtaking on a massive prehistoric shark—knockedTom Cruiseback down to second place, asMission: Impossible - Falloutnabbed $20 million in its third weekend.
A big shark comes with a big price tag for Warner Bros., though. The Meg’s reported budget is $130 million, a number that the studio will need audiences overseas to show up for in order to pay for all that Megalodon action. On the other hand,The Megis a movie in whichJason Statham fights a dinosaur shark, and if the world doesn’t want to spend money on that then maybe it truly is too late for humanity.
Elsewhere,Spike Lee’sBlacKkKlansmanopened strong, raking in $10.8 million over 1,500 locations, good enough for fifth place. That number is the auteur’s biggest opening in decades, a fact sweetened by an A- CinemaScore. Fellow newcomerSlender Man—Sony’s horror film with the terrifying premise of “remember 2011?"—opened in fourth place to $11.3 million, a more-than-respectable number considering its budget was $10 million.
As far as animals go: Sharks? Yes. Dogs? Apparently not. LD Entertainment’sDog Days—a romantic comedy directed byKen Marinoand starringVanessa Hudgens,Eva Longoria, and a few canine co-stars—opened straight to the pound with $2.63 million.
Check out the full weekend estimates below, and be back here next weekend to see ifMark Wahlberg’s action thrillerMile 22can be more than Option 3 at the box office.
$44,500,000
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
$20,000,000
$161,967, 284
Disney’s Christopher Robin
$12,430,000
$50,019,317
Slender Man
$11,325,000
BlacKkKlansman
$10,799,000
The Spy Why Dumped Me
$6,600,000
$24,560,385
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
$5,820,000
$103,831,200
The Equalizer 2
$5,500,000
$89,645,928
Hotel Transylvania 3
$5,110,000
$583,141,290
Ant-Man and The Wasp
$4,048,000
$203,518,344
