Despite a lukewarm reception from critics and a limited press release amid the SAG-AFTRA strike, The Meg 2: The Trench has performed surprisingly well at the box office (per GamesRadar), surpassing Christopher Nolan’s historical epic Oppenheimer to the number two spot during its opening weekend. Inspired by Steve Alten’s 1999 novel, the sequel took in a whopping $30 million in the US, marginally more than Oppenheimer ($28.7 million).
Internationally, The Meg 2, starring Jason Statham, earned $142 million, a substantial difference in comparison to the original film, which debuted in cinemas in 2018. The original surpassed the $100 million mark ($101.5, to be accurate). With competition from Barbie and Oppenheimer making waves (no shark puns intended with that one) in cinemas, these figures are impressive.
The Meg 2: The Trench sees the Stath reprise his role as Jonas Taylor, a rescue diver tasked with investigating strange phenomena deep within the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench. With his team, they stumble upon a trio of prehistoric Megalodons. Suffice to say, as a rule of thumb for sequels, these Megalodons are bigger and meaner and pack a bite. But, of course, the Stath is no match for these beasties.
Directed by Ben Wheatley, known for High Rise and In The Earth, The Meg 2: The Trench further stars Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Cliff Curtis, Sienna Guillory, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, and Skyler Samuels. In other box office-related news, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One reached a new box office milestone.
You can read the Oppenheimer review at the link here.
