This weekend's domestic box office saw Crazy Rich Asians take the top spot in a big win for film diversity, however, it wasn't enough to take down a massive shark on a global scale. The Meg, in addition to putting in a strong second place in North America with $21 million, brought in an impressive $67 million in 55 overseas markets, making it the top box office hit around the world.
To be fair, Crazy Rich Asians never really had a chance at being a global superstar, as the film is seeing a staggered release over the next several weeks in several international territories. According to Deadline, it only opened in six overseas markets this weekend, and won't be hitting South East Asia, where it will likely do well compared to the rest of the world, until next weekend. Of course, it should also be pointed out that The Meg cost a hell of a lot more to make than Crazy Rich Asians did. The latter film has already made back it's production budget in less than a week of release.
While there really wasn't any other major blockbuster that was poised to take the international box office crown from The Meg, the fact that the film has already crossed the $300 million mark is impressive nonetheless. The film was expected to do well last weekend, but it actually performed well above expectations. It also came close to taking the domestic crown this weekend as well, but the groundswell of support, not to mention solid reviews, behind Crazy Rich Asians, was enough to take down the giant shark.
Other films continued to do well overseas as well. Mission: Impossible - Fallout, broke the $500 million mark globally and Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation crossed the $400 million mark, thanks mostly to a huge opening in China. While numbers like that would be records in a lot of franchises, both of these series have done so well at the box office that they both still have a long way to go if they want to become the highest grossing entry in their respective series.
We're getting into a period of the late summer when the box office tends to slow down a bit, which opens up opportunities for unexpected films to do well. This weekend will only see The Happytime Murders and "boy and his robot dog" film A.X.L. see a release of any significant size. While it's unclear how big either film will actually be, it seems likely both The Meg and Crazy Rich Asians will be able to add to their totals more than they would if they were faced with bigger titles.
