Film critics, you're going to need a bigger boat.
The Meg, a Warner Bros thriller featuring a 20-metre shark, smashed forecasts to open as the No 1 film in North American theatres this weekend, toppling Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible and outdrawing a new Spike Lee picture.
Starring Jason Statham as a diving expert on a rescue mission, The Meg brought in US$44.5 million ($67.6m) in the United States and Canada, researcher ComScore estimated, beating Mission: Impossible - Fallout at US$20m. Sony horror film Slender Man opened with US$11.3m, while Lee's BlacKkKlansman, a comedy from Comcast's Focus Features, generated US$10.8m.
As the northern summer winds down, competition at the box office is letting up. Warner Bros, now part of AT&T, has the last high-profile release of the season with Crazy Rich Asians next weekend. After the US Labor Day weekend, studios begin releasing artier films, the smaller-budget drama they hope will be awards contenders.
Fallout and The Meg were neck-and-neck in analysts' estimates, with Box Office Mojo predicting US$23m for both pictures - meaning the shark film almost doubled the forecast.
