The plaudits should deservedly be heading in the direction of Barbie after the sensational box office performance of the Mattel adaptation saw it rocket to a billion dollars in just 17 days, ensuring that Greta Gerwig’s latest cracked 10 figures even faster than James Cameron’s Avatar.
However, as well as Christopher Nolan’s three-hour R-rated epic Oppenheimer sailing past $550 million globally with the greatest of ease, neither of the viral sensations can lay claim to the title of being the highest-grossing movie of the weekend. Instead, that honor falls to the worst-reviewed blockbuster sequel of the year.
That’s right; despite taking a pounding from critics and opening significantly lower than its predecessor domestically, Meg 2: The Trench claimed the worldwide number one spot after chowing down on a $142 million haul. As you might expect, over a third of that came from China alone, where the prospect of Jason Statham teaming up with local megastar Wu Jing was more than enough to propel it to a three-day tally in excess of $50 million.
The Trench may not reach the $530 million cume of the opener, but it did cost less to make, meaning the margins aren’t quite as large as they were before. It’s a Warner Bros. co-production, too, so at least the studio is on course to avoid its latest bomb after the back-to-back dismemberings of Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash. Let it be another reminder to everyone out there that bad films are more than capable of making money in their own right, provided they be precision-engineered to appeal to one of cinema’s biggest markets.
Published: Aug 7, 2023 01:30 am