Crazy Rich Asians Soars To Top Of US Box Office Chart

The August box office continues to defy expectations. The month is traditionally one of the weakest of the year in terms of big releases, but last week the shark thriller The Meg far exceeded expectations to take home $44 million in its first weekend. This weekend, it was knocked from No.1 by the acclaimed romcom Crazy Rich Asians, which made an estimated $25.2 million from Friday to Sunday. Additionally, the movie had already opened in some theaters on Wednesday, bringing its total gross to $34 million by Sunday night, from a reported production budget of just $30 million.

The Meg slipped into second place but still made an impressive $21.1 million, bringing its domestic total to $83.7 million and $230.4 million worldwide. The second biggest new release of the week was the action thriller Mile 22, starring Mark Wahlberg. The movie has been met with poor reviews and despite entering the chart at No.3, only made an estimated $13.6 million in its first three days. Nevertheless, as Box Office Mojo points out, the international market is an increasingly important one and this type of violent action movie typically does well overseas.

The other new release was the adventure movie Alpha, which debuted with an estimated $10.5 million take. The movie tied for fourth place with Mission Impossible: Fallout, which continued to do great business in its fourth week on the chart, bringing its domestic total to $180.7 million. It remains the last of the summer's big budget franchise movies in the Top 10.

Elsewhere, the family movie Christopher Robin, the drama BlacKkKlansman, and horror movie Slender Man fell into the bottom half of the Top 10, at Nos. 6, 7, and 8 respectively. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again round things off at No.9 and 10.

You can see the full Top 10 list for the August 17-19 US box office below, as compiled by Box Office Mojo.

US/Canada Box Office For August 17-19:

1. Crazy Rich Asians – $25.2 million
2. The Meg– $21.1 million
3. Mile 22 – $13.6 million
4. Mission Impossible: Fallout – $10.5 million
5. Alpha – $10.5 million
6. Disney's Christopher Robin – $8.86 million
7. BlacKkKlansman – $7.0 million
8. Slender Man – $4.9 million
9. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation – $3.6 million
10. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again – $3.3 million