Meg marks Warner Bros.' biggest opening of the year in North American so far. The film brought even more in China with an impressive $50.3 million this weekend for a total overseas opening of $96.8 million and global weekend cume of $141.3 million.

The film received a "B+" from moviegoers on CinemaScore.

"An insatiable audience appetite for shark movies continues," wrote movie analyst Paul Dergarabedian at comScore in an email to Xinhua, adding that the film took a much bigger-than-expected bite out of the box office.

Paramount's action film Mission: Impossible - Fallout moved to second place with an estimated $20 million in its third weekend. The film has collected $161.9 million in North America for a global cume of $437.5 million through Sunday, according to studio figures collected by comScore.

Starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, Mission: Impossible - Fallout is the sixth installment in the franchise. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the film also stars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Michelle Monaghan and Alec Baldwin, all of whom reprise their roles from previous films. McQuarrie is the first director to helm two films in the franchise.