It was a monster of a weekend that shows giant sharks can still drive audiences into the theater. The Meg won the weekend with an estimated $44.5 million debut at 4,118 screens for an average of $10,806. That debut is well above the estimates which expected it to be in the $20s million range.

The film received a “B+” CinemaScore, nothing that really shows this is a film driven by positive word of mouth. But, with a lack of giant monster films, this is one that could just be the right release at the right time.

The film has also earned $97 million at the foreign box office for a worldwide total of $141.5 million, already passing the $130 million budget.

In second place was the box office champ for the past two weekend, Mission: Impossible – Fallout. The movie earned an estimated $20 million to bring its domestic total to $162 million. With $275.6 million at the foreign box office the film is showing sequels can mean success with a worldwide total of $437.6 million on its $178 million budget.

In third place was Disney’s Christopher Robin which dropped 49.4% from its debut weekend. The film earned an estimated $12.4 million to bring its domestic total to $50 million. Internationally the film has earned $12.1 million for $62.1 million total.

Rounding out the top five were two new films.

Slender Man came in fourth with an estimated $11.3 million off of a $10 million budget. There’s lots of money to be made in low budget horror and the films seem to do well no matter the time of year that they’re released.

Rounding out the top five was BlacKKKlansman from Spike Lee. The film earned an estimated $10.8 million from a $15 million budget. It has also earned $400,000 at the foreign box office. This is on the higher end of openings for Lee whose best was 2006’s Inside Man. It’s close to his second best opening which was The Original Kinds of Comedy’s $11.1 million in 2000. That film went on to earn $38.2 million.

In comic movie earnings…

Ant-Man and the Wasp rounded out the top 10 earning an estimated $4 million to bring its domestic total to $203.5 million. The film has also earned $245.4 million at the foreign box office for a worldwide total of $448.9 million after six weeks. The film is still shy of the original’s total though it has earned $23 million more domestically unadjusted for ticket price inflation. Worldwide the sequel is shy $71 million.

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies came in at #15 earning an estimated $1.8 million to bring its domestic total to $25.5 million off of a $10 million budget. The film has also earned $4.5 million at the foreign box office for a total of $30 million.

Despite being released for home, Avengers: Infinity War was #25 for the weekend earning an estimated $196,000 to bring its domestic total to $678.4 million. The film has also earned $1.367 billion for a worldwide total of $2.046 billion.

We’ll have more coverage of this year’s comic film adaptations in an hour.