The Big Picture

Warner Bros.’ Meg 2: The Trench is a box office success, generating $256.9 million worldwide in just two weekends, with China contributing $69 million. Although it is performing better overseas, Meg 2 is lagging behind Warner Bros.’ Barbie and Universal’s Oppenheimer in the domestic box office. Despite being at only half of the first film’s box office totals, Meg 2 is expected to have another month of widespread release globally, potentially allowing it to catch up to the original’s final total.

Warner Bros.’ Meg 2: The Trench continues to exceed expectations, and is reaching into the depths of the global box office. The film has now generated $256.9 million worldwide, an impressive figure given its release window at the height of the “Barbenheimer” craze.

Through two weekends in theaters, the Jason Statham-toplined film has brought in $54.1 million at the domestic box office. This is unsurprising given the aforementioned fervor of Warner Bros.’ Barbie and Universal’s Oppenheimer, which are both continuing to dominate the American box office. Meg 2 came in fourth in the U.S. this weekend, also lagging behind Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Ninja Mayhem. However, Meg 2 is doing much better overseas, and its global total is in part thanks to one country in particular: China.

The film has generated an international total of $202 million, with $69 million of this coming from Chinese cinemas. Meg 2 has done so well overseas that the film’s international cumulative total passed $150 million days before its second weekend in theaters. The success of Meg 2 in China isn’t a complete surprise, as the film, which is a co-production between China and the U.S., benefited from a heavy Warner Bros. marketing campaign in the region, and had its world premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival. The film also features an impressive Chinese cast alongside Statham including Wu Jing, Shuya Sophia Cai, and more.

Can Meg 2 Catch the First Film’s Box Office Totals?
Image via Warner Bros

While the $256 million total is nothing to fret about, it is still only half of what The Meg brought in during its theatrical run in 2018, with a total of $530 million. However, given that Meg 2 is only in its second weekend in theaters, it will likely have at least another month of widespread release globally, allowing it to continue bringing in the dollars. The film has already almost doubled its budget, which was estimated to be around $130 million, and looks to continue dominating at the Chinese box office. This is also not a previously unseen phenomenon, as The Meg also did extremely well in China, ending its box office run with $153 million — more than the film made in the United States.

Meg 2 sees Statham reprise his role from the first film as Jonas Taylor, a deep-sea diver who is tasked with taking down a group of man-eating megalodon sharks. The plan goes awry, though, when a number of other hellish sea creatures emerge from the ocean depths after an antagonistic mining explosion. The film also stars Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Cliff Curtis, Skylar Samuels, and Sienna Guillory. Meg 2 was directed by Ben Wheatley from a screenplay by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, and Dean Georgaris, which was itself based on the 1999 novel The Trench by Steve Alten. The film is a co-production from Chinese-based CMC Pictures, Apelles Entertainment, DF Pictures, and Di Bonaventura Pictures, and was produced by Charlie Reed, Belle Avery, Cliff Lanning, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

Meg 2: The Trench is now playing in theaters. Collider’s interview with di Bonaventura about the film can be seen below: