Author: Pamela McClintock / Source: Billboard
What would the summer be without a shark movie?
Warner Bros.’ shark pic The Meg, starring perennial action star Jason Statham, is showing some reel teeth at the the box office for a possible $40 million domestic debut, double what tracking had suggested and the best domestic opening in history for a live-action shark pic, not adjusted for inflation.
The movie earned $16.5 million from 4,118 theaters on Friday, including $4 million in previews.The Meg is also showing strength overseas. China’s Gravity Pictures, which put up a significant portion of the budget, is handling distribution duties in the Middle Kingdom, where the movie debuted Friday to $16.2 million (by the end of Saturday, that will grow to $32.4 million). In other foreign markets, The Meg finished Friday with a three-day foreign tally of $34.5 million for an early global total of $77.4 million.
That’s good news for Warner Bros. and Gravity, which paid at least $150 million to produce the long-in-the-making film, directed by Jon Turteltaub (the studio says the net budget was $130 million).
The Meg will easily come in No. 1, while Mission: Impossible — Fallout will fall to No. 2 in its third weekend with an estimated $19 million-$20 million from 3,888 theaters for a domestic total of roughly $161…
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