‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ takes $150-million chomp out of the box office
Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” dominated the box office this weekend, knocking Disney-Pixar’s behemoth “Incredibles 2” into second place.
The $170-million dinosaur blockbuster posted $150 million in North American receipts, beating analysts’ predictions of $130 million to $140 million, according to figures from measurement firm ComScore.
“We’re obviously thrilled with our opening,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s domestic distribution chief. “Not only with the domestic box office, but we’re adding to a tremendous global result already.”
“Fallen Kingdom” topped the international box office for the third weekend in a row with $106.7 million, an estimated international gross of $561.5 million and a global gross of $711.5 million. It boasts an A-minus rating on CinemaScore and a 50% “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“There’s a lot of summer left to go, so it’s just a great position to be in,” Orr added.
The latest in the long-running “Jurassic Park” series, “Fallen Kingdom” comes 25 years after the first film and three years after 2015’s reboot of the series. New franchise stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return to save the surviving dinosaurs from an extinction-level event while series veteran Jeff Goldblum reprises his role as Ian Malcolm.
The “Jurassic World” movies are a revival of the franchise created by Steven Spielberg in 1992. The previous “Jurassic World” collected $209 million in its first weekend in North American theaters, fueled in part by high audience anticipation for the first “Jurassic” film in 14 years. It went on to gross almost $1.7 billion worldwide, $1 billion of which came from international tickets.
“The ‘Jurassic’ franchise is really synonymous with nostalgia in a way,” said Orr. “The scale, the spectacle. It’s become something for every generation of moviegoer. It’s awe-inspiring and it gives you a look at dinosaurs that you haven’t seen before. The results obviously speak for themselves.”
Moviegoers have taken advantage of enhanced opportunities to see the film. Imax theaters account for $46 million in global receipts for “Fallen Kingdom,” and a whopping $380 million has been generated globally from 3-D ticket sales, with $105 million of that coming from RealD screens.
“Incredibles 2” added $80.9 million in its second weekend, a 56% drop, for a cumulative $350 million. The film, which was expected to gross upwards of $90 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend, took in $56.8 million internationally for a global gross of $485 million.
In third place, Warner Bros.’ “Oceans 8” pulled in $11.6 million in its third weekend, for a cumulative $100 million in ticket sales.
The studio’s “Tag” came in at No. 4. Now in its second weekend, the film rang up an additional $8.2 million, bringing its cumulative total to $30.4 million.
Rounding out the top five, Fox’s “Deadpool 2” pulled in $5.2 million in its sixth week for a cumulative gross of $304.1 million.
In limited release, Focus Features’ Mr. Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” totaled $1.9 million in its third weekend and added 252 locations for a total of 348. It grossed a cumulative $4.1 million through Sunday, impressive for a documentary released in such a small number of theaters.
Next week, Sony and Columbia Pictures open the action sequel “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” and Lionsgate premieres the comedy “Uncle Drew.”
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