Meg 2: The Trench Has A Monster Debut At The Global Box Office
Critics be damned, "Meg 2: The Trench" managed to have itself a monster debut at the box office over the weekend. A sequel to 2018's "The Meg" starring Jason Statham, Warner Bros. once again cashed in on adapting Steven Alten's book series for the big screen as the film took in $142.1 million globally in its debut. The question now becomes, will the movie have long enough legs to justify its blockbuster budget? Or will it suffer a big drop in the coming weeks resulting in a costly misfire? There are many, many factors at play here, so let's dive in.
Per The Numbers, director Ben Wheatley's "Meg 2" took in a somewhat modest $30.1 million domestically, putting it at number two on the charts, with a huge $112 million overseas debut (more on that in a bit). In North America, it was a surprising result as "Barbie" was pretty much uncontested for the top spot but "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" and "Oppenheimer" were very much fighting for the silver medal. However, "TMNT" opened mid-week which took a little bit of luster away from the weekend, while Christopher Nolan's biopic about the man who gave us the A-bomb slowed down just a tiny bit in its third weekend. That paved the way for Statham and these big ass sharks to swim past the competition.
It sort of looked like the rough critical reviews were going to rain on this movie's parade (read our 4 out of 10 review here), but that proved not to be the case at all. Interestingly, the sequel actually scored better with audiences than the original. "The Meg" has a 46% critic rating and a 43% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, "The Trench" has a very poor 28% critic rating but a surprisingly decent 72% audience score. That is often the more important metric.
Meg 2 is relying on overseas box office in a big way
The biggest thing here is that massive international number. "Meg 2" earned nearly 80% of its money on opening weekend overseas. That tracks as the original made nearly 73% of its $530.2 million global total from international audiences. One of the big differences this time around is that the original pulled in $45.4 million on its opening weekend domestically, so we're looking at more than a 30% drop off in North America for the sequel in the early running. Be that as it may, things may still work out in the end for the film, which carries a $130 million production budget.
Warner Bros. co-financed the film with China Media Capital. That's because the first movie made a ridiculously huge $153 million in China, including a $50 million opening weekend. The best news for "Meg 2" is that the sequel actually had a bigger opening weekend in China to the tune of $53 million. It's one of only three Hollywood sequels to open bigger than the original in the country since the pandemic began, right alongside "Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Godzilla vs. Kong." Also of note, "Godzilla vs. Kong" made $188.7 million of its $467.8 million total in China. So monster movies still play big there, pandemic be damned.
In a best-case scenario, if we presume a 20/80 domestic/international split as things progress, the sequel could finish with around $85 million domestically and $340 million internationally for a $425 million total, give or take. While that wouldn't be as big as the original, it would still be enough to justify that price tag. On the other end, if the movie falls off a cliff it could finish with a little over $300 million globally. Either way, it appears as though the studio is going to avoid a disaster here. In short, "The Meg 3" remains a possibility.
"Meg 2: The Trench" is in theaters now.