THE REEL: 'The Meg' takes Sh4.5bn bite out of N.America box office

Viewers rushed to see Jason Statham as a rescue diver who tries to save scientists in a submarine from a huge, prehistoric shark attack. PHOTO| FILE| NATION

What you need to know:

  • Second place went to Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - Fallout, from Paramount, with Sh2 billion earnings ending a two-week run at the top, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The North American box office was under attack from shark thriller The Meg over the weekend, industry data showed Monday, as it more than doubled the earnings of its closest competitor to claim top spot.

The Warner Bros. adaptation of Steve Alten's Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror (1997) took Sh4.5billion in its first weekend in theatres, as viewers rushed to see Jason Statham as a rescue diver who tries to save scientists in a submarine from a huge, prehistoric shark attack.

Second place went to Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - Fallout, from Paramount, with Sh2 billion earnings ending a two-week run at the top, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Fallout, the sixth stunt-filled edition in the popular M:I franchise, sees Cruise again do his own vertigo-inducing, cliff-hanging, exploding-car stunts — and has raked in Sh16 billion during three weeks in cinemas.

In at third was Disney's live action Christopher Robin— the story of Winnie the Pooh's now grown-up and stressed-out friend, and how they reunite — with ticket sales of Sh1.3 billion.

Meanwhile, despite a poor reception from critics, Sony's newly released Slender Man took fourth place with Sh1.1 billion.

The supernatural horror story follows a group of friends who, enthralled by online stories about the mysterious Slender Man, try to prove he doesn't really exist — only for one of them to go missing.
Fifth went to Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, which took Sh1.1billion. Starring John David Washington — son of Denzel Washington — it tells the true story of black detective Ron Stallworth, who in 1970s Colorado set out to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan chapter.

Rounding out the weekend's top 10 were:

The Spy Who Dumped Me (Sh650 million)

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Sh 590 million)

The Equalizer 2 (Sh 540 million)

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (Sh 520 million)

Ant-Man and the Wasp (Sh 410 million)