The Meg: Statham shark thriller takes HUGE bite out of Box Office – How much did it make?

With an opening weekend free and clear of other movie competition, The Meg took a Megaladon sized bite out of the UK box office.

Statham’s latest movie seemed to sneak up on the summer box office.

How much did the shark thriller make in its opening weekend?

Perhaps shocking to some, especially those not a fan of the action genre, The Meg debuted in the UK to a tune of £3.65 million ($4.57m).

As of August 14, 2018, The Meg has made a total of £44.10m ($56m) in the United States and Canada, where it debuted on August 10.

So far it has made a total of £124.04m ($157.5m) worldwide.

Critics were wary of Statham’s shark-shaped vehicle, as the action stars movies had not been performing well.

His last film as the main protagonist was Mechanic: Resurrection back in 2016.

The Mechanic sequel only grossed £1.37m ($1.74m) total for UK cinemas.

Prior to this, his role in Wild Card (2015) only managed to make £410,000.

But his role as Jonas Taylor saw him claim his biggest ever opening outside the Fast and Furious and Expendables franchises.

There were other contributing factors to The Meg’s clean up of the weekend box office.

The Meg undoubtedly benefited from its release date.

By mid-August, the big summer blockbusters are already out (like Ant-Man and the Wasp) meaning a lack of competition for less established summer hits.

The only movies with which The Meg competed on its opening weekend were the young-adult novel based The Darkest Minds, which was met with tepid response.

Horror sequel Unfriended: Dark Web also debuted this same weekend but didn’t detract from The Meg.

The Meg’s two competitors made £611,000 ($77,5994.44) between them, not even coming close to touching Statham’s The Meg.

The weather was also on The Meg’s side, with a fair amount of rain – and certainly plenty of grey skies – over the past weekend.

The Meg sees Statham return to his former glory as a bonafide action hero, this time swapping cars for sharks.

Critics looked mostly-favourably on the film, taking it for what it was, the perfect end of summer romp.

Not only did The Meg debut to lacklustre competition, it had bad weather on its side.

The grey, wet weather in the UK surely helped to drive people into the cinemas instead of to the beaches.

However unrealistic The Meg is, it made some very serious money and will undoubtedly continue to take plenty of profit at the box office.

Also basking in the financial success of the movie are co-stars Ruby Rose, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, and others.

The Meg is now playing in cinemas.