‘The Meg’ reels in $45.4m debut

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 $45.4 million in its first weekend in theaters, 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 $19.4 million 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 $161.3 million 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 $13 million.

Meanwhile, despite a poor reception from critics, Sony’s newly released “Slender Man” took fourth place with $11.4 million.

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 $10.8 million.

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” ($6.5 million)

“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” ($5.9 million)

“The Equalizer 2” ($5.4 million)

“Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” ($5.2 million)

“Ant-Man and the Wasp” ($4.1 million)