While Meg 2: The Trench hasn’t exactly made a big splash in the US, Warner Bros. has found a surprisingly good late summer hit with it. In this sequel to 2018’s The Meg, Jason Statham makes a comeback to take on more megalodons. Unnoticeably, it has become a huge hit overseas, especially in China. The film’s global box office receipts have crossed $300 million following yet another successful weekend.
The science fiction/horror book The Trench by Steve Alten, published in 1999, served as the basis for the film. Alongside Jason Statham in the most recent movie are Cliff Curtis, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, and Skyler Samuels.Furthermore, considering that Dwayne Johnson previously claimed that the absence of a Chinese release was the reason for Black Adam’s failure, Meg 2: The Trench looks to have fortunately avoided the actor’s nightmarish fate.$105 million is taken in by Jason Statham’s Meg 2: The Trench in China.
The true measure of the franchise’s long-term success is found in Meg 2: The Trench, the second episode of the series that was released five years after the first film. In spite of some pessimistic forecasts regarding its commercial prospects, Ben Wheatley’s most recent picture is expected to turn a healthy profit. In the first weekend of its release, the movie earned back all of its production costs. The success of the Jason Statham-led sequel should not be all that surprising because it had many positive aspects.The Numbers states that Blue Beetle dethroned Barbie with a $25 million launch, and The Trench has already made $6.73 million in its third domestic weekend. More importantly, the Statham-starring film brought its global gross to $318.3 million, up just $22 million.Meg 2: The Trench, in particular, is one of the few Hollywood films that have made more than $105 million in China since the pandemic began, along with Avatar: The Way of Water and Godzilla vs. Kong.China was once a Hollywood mainstay, but in this instance, it’s probably going to be the film’s saving grace.Did Dwayne Johnson Say That The China Ban Was to Blame for Black Adam’s Failure?Hollywood films undoubtedly have a substantial following in China. Any big Hollywood movie that wants to do well at the box office goes after the Chinese audience.
However, China’s stringent censorship laws have recently resulted in the suppression of a number of well-known films in the nation. The films Black Adam, Shang-Chi, Eternals, and Black Panther 2 are also included in this list.During the Hart to Heart programme, Dwayne Johnson admitted that the Black Adam had lost “between $100 and $200 million” because to the Chinese ban. When host Kevin Hart questioned why the franchise was being cancelled, he responded by saying that it was “caught in a vortex of new leadership.”The actor went on to say:
“There were numerous shifts in the leadership. When a publicly listed firm experiences frequent leadership changes, it is inevitable that new individuals will be appointed who, in both their creative and financial capacities, will make judgements you may find disagreeable.Given the success of the series within the company, he added that he was still unaware of the reasons for the character’s departure, but that it was “caught in the web of new leadership.”
He contended:That remains one of the greatest mysteries of all time. This is your largest professional opportunity. Yes, without China, there may have been a difference of 100 or 200 million dollars. You want to expand the superhero franchise that you own. When you brought Henry Cavill and Superman back, everyone went berserk. Additionally, we produced a diverse superhero portfolio, with Black Adam featuring only men and women of colour.Despite garnering a $393 million global gross and mixed reviews, Jaume Collet-Serra’s Black Adam was dubbed a box office catastrophe.