Meg 2 leads the worldwide box office with $142 million debut
Last updated: 6 August 2023
Meg 2: The Trench has dethroned Barbie at the weekend global box office chart with $142 million gross over its opening weekend. The shark sequel, directed by Ben Wheatley, starring Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels and Cliff Curtis, amassed $30 million at the North American box office.
Demoted to the second position, Barbie has grossed an impressive $127 million in its third weekend, registering a drop of 51% from its second weekend. The comedy-drama, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, making Greta Gerwig the first female filmmaker to achieve this feat. Barbie continued to lead the North American box office chart for the third consecutive weekend with $53 million for a total of $459.38 million.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy in the titular role, has grossed $81.51 million in its third weekend, registering a drop of just 31% from its second weekend, for a total gross of $552.94 million. Released alongside Barbie in a clash referred to as Barbenheimer, the R-rated biographical drama, also starring Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek and Kenneth Branagh is the third highest-grossing film in North America over the weekend with $$28.7 million, taking its domestic tally to $228.56 million.
Chinese epic film Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, the first instalment in the Fengshen trilogy directed by ethnic Mongol director Wuershan, based on Xu Zhonglin’s 16th century novel Investiture of the Gods, grossed $38.09 million in its third weekend for a total of $229.92 million. The cast includes Fei Xiang, Li Xuejian, Huang Bo, Yu Yosh, Luke Chen, Na Ran, Ci Sha, Xia Yu, Chen Kun, Yuan Quan and Eric Yang Le.
Animation sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, directed by Jeff Rowe, grossed $36.5 million over the weekend for a total of $51.57 million. The film released on 2 August to positive reviews.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One earned $24.05 million is its fourth weekend for a worldwide total of $493.8 million. The action-thriller is directed by Christopher McQuarrie and stars Tom Cruise reprising his role as Ethan Hunt, Hayley Atwell in her Mission Impossible debut, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby – all of them reprising her roles from previous Mission Impossible films along with Esai Morales, playing the antagonist. In the film, Hunt races against time to find a mysterious “key” before it is found by The Entity, a powerful rogue AI (Esai Morales).
Chinese dance film One and Only, directed by Da Peng, starring Chen Shuo and Ding Lei, grossed $19.1 million in its second weekend for a total for $99.74 million.
Pixar’s Elemental, directed by Peter Sohn, continues its fantastic performance at the box office earning $19.1 million in its eighth weekend. The animated romantic comedy-drama, made with an estimated budget of $200 million, has grossed $423.69 million so far and has emerged as a sleeper hit despite a lukewarm opening week.
Disney’s Haunted Mansion grossed $13.17 million, including $8.97 million in North America, in its second weekend for a total of $59.62 million ($42.02 million in North America). The horror-comedy, directed by Justin Simien and starring LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto, is made with an estimated budget of $150 million and faces an uphill battle to recover its costs following mixed reviews from critics.
Australian horror film Talk to Me, directed by Danny and Michael Philippou, grossed $9.06 million in its second weekend, taking its tally to $31.42 million. In the film, a group of teenagers discover they are able to contact spirits using a mysterious embalmed hand, only for one of them to take things too far. The cast includes Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, Zoe Terakes, Chris Alosio, Marcus Johnson and Alexandria Steffensen.
Note: The above box office data is consolidated and supplied by ComScore.
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