'The Meg' Has a Great Opening Night
by EG
Early predictions for the shark thriller The Meg suggested that the movie might be a pretty big bust. Surprisingly good Thursday-night ticket sales, however, suggest otherwise. Read on for details.
Via Deadline.
Warner Bros.’ big shark movie The Meg starring Jason Statham swallowed a surprising $4M last night at showtimes that started 7PM. That’s a figure on par with the Thursday nights of 2015’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation which went on to do $55.5M, and Warner Bros./Legendary’s Kong: Skull Island which boomed a $3.7M preview, before overindexing to an unexpected $61M.
Tracking has The Meg bound for No. 1 with a low-to-mid $20M take at 4,118 theaters (the second widest release for August after Suicide Squad‘s 4,255), but there’s a good chance based on last night’s previews plus presales that the movie will blow away its forecasts and that middling 51% Rotten Tomatoes score since it’s the only fresh glitzy Hollywood wide release on the marquee this weekend. The Meg’s Thursday blows away the Thursday night previews of other Hollywood co-productions built primarily for growing Asian cinema markets, read Skyscraper ($1.95M, $24.9M opening) and Pacific Rim Uprising ($2.35M, $28M opening). The Meg also eats up the last shark pic that hit the big screen, Sony’s The Shallows from two summers ago which did a $1.3M Thursday and $16.8M weekend. Already on Fandango, The Meg is tearing past the advance ticket sales of Pacific Rim Uprising and The Shallows. This is not the first shark movie for Warner Bros. Remember Renny Harlin’s 1999 Deep Blue Sea? That opened to $19.1M, finaled at $73.6M stateside, and $164.6M global off a $60M production cost that was 54% cheaper than Meg‘s.
Meg, directed by Jon Turteltaub is largely financed by China Gravity, which is releasing the pic in the Middle Kingdom. Warner Bros. has a 40% exposure on the production that reportedly costs a net of $130M.
Paramount/Skydance’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout is expected to file a third weekend in the low $20Ms. The movie was the top pic on Thursday among regular releases with an estimated $3.3M and a two-week running total of $142M. Disney’s family title Christoper Robin after an estimated first week of $37.5M, is expected to ease -45% in weekend 2 with $13.5M.
Get the rest of the story at Deadline.
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