‘The Meg’ Defies Expectations With Huge Thursday Night Box Office And China Debut

People love shark movies. It’s a proven fact. Even outside of the classic “Jaws,” which transcends the genre of underwater horror, recent films like “47 Meters Down” and “The Shallows” have proven that there’s an audience demand for films about those killing machines under the sea. But jeez, how could anyone have predicted the early box office success of “The Meg?”

Early word on the film painted a bleak picture. The trailers and marketing materials were promising a fun, wild, gory, B-movie with Jason Statham leading the way. But as we got closer to the release date, Statham started to talk about how the film turned out completely different than he hoped, director Jon Turteltaub lamented about the film’s lack of blood and guts, and the reviews have been less-than-favorable (currently sitting at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes). All things considered, many were predicted a low-$20 million debut for the film.

READ MORE: Jason Statham And ‘The Meg’ Director Detail Disappointments In The Shark Film Just Before It Hits Theaters

But according to early box office estimates, the film is expected to shatter those admittedly-low expectations. In Thursday night previews, the film pulled in a very respectable $4 million domestically. If you look at comparable films, this could mean anything from a high-$30 millions to $50+ million weekend in North America. Not too shabby at all. Especially considering Warner Bros. reportedly shelled out approximately $150 million to make the film.

And the news gets even better when you look overseas. In China alone, “The Meg” has already raked in $16 million in one day. As we said, when analysts are projecting $20 million domestically for a weekend, WB has to be loving the huge number from China. Of course, the studio was banking on this news, considering the film takes place off the coast of the country and features some high-profile Chinese actors. Oh yeah, and Jason Statham is a household name in the country due to his involvement in the hugely popular “Fast and Furious” franchise.

Now, before we get too hyperbolic about the box office predictions for “The Meg,” let’s take into consideration that word-of-mouth will clearly make or break this film. If fans go into the movie expecting a gorefest, they’re going to be sorely disappointed.

But, if expectations are low on the gore side of things, and expectations are high on the silly side, then maybe, just maybe, WB will have a late-summer hit on its hands.