“Meg” takes $44 million chomp out of box-office

(FASTNEWS|COLOMBO) – The Jason Statham-led “The Meg” beat expectations and scored a whopping $44.5 million opening at the box-office, more than doubling industry tracking estimates going into the weekend.

“Meg” earned mixed reviews from critics and a good, but not great, B+ CinemaScore from audiences. Nevertheless should go on to snag nearly $150 million domestically. The film is also expected to do good business overseas, especially China, but its $130-170 million budget means it won’t reach profit until it hits the $400 million mark or so.

Sony quietly pushed out the “Slender Man” film which received a D- CinemaScore and arrived in fourth place with $11.3 million. Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” also excelled and snagged $10.8 million along with nabbing both very good reviews and an A- CinemaScore.