'Jurassic World' Gobbles Up a Big Debut Weekend
by EG
Despite poor reviews from critics, Jurassic World: Dominion sold plenty of tickets in its opening weekend, taking the top box office spot from Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel that had been the champ for the previous two weeks. The question now is whether the action fantasy can continue to charm audiences beyond its initial splash. It also remains to be seen if Top Gun can hold on to its momentum and become the biggest movie of 2022 so far. Read on for details.
The dinos are back.
Jurassic World Dominion devoured an estimated $143.4 million from 4,676 theaters in its domestic opening after roaring to a Friday gross of $59.6 million. Globally, the summer tentpole finished Sunday with a total of $389 million as the box office recovery continued to gain momentum.
The final installment in Universal and Amblin’s Jurassic World trilogy easily won the weekend as audience sensation Top Gun: Maverick fell to No. 2 in its third outing. Top Gun 2 continues to overperform, however, as it approaches the $400 million mark domestically. The Paramount and Skydance pic earned $50 million for a domestic total of $393.3 million and a jet-fueled $747 million globally after adding another $52.7 million internationally.
Jurassic World Dominion came in narrowly behind 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($148 million) and notably behind 2015’s Jurassic World ($208.8 million), but boasts one of the biggest openings of the pandemic era. It even beat Top Gun 2‘s three day opening of $126.7 million, although it isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison since Maverick’s four day launch was $260 million.
Critics ravaged the film, but audiences disagreed, giving it an A- CinemaScore and solid exits on PostTrak. Jurassic World Dominion presently has a 34 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest of any title in the iconic dino series.
One advantage is that Dominion is taking away Imax and premium large format screens from Top Gun: Maverick. Another advantage: Actors Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill and BD Wong are reuniting for the first time since starring in director Steven Spielberg’s first Jurassic Park (1993).
And a third: youngsters under 17 turned out in force (23 percent), signaling family appeal. The film skewed male (56 percent), while nearly half of ticket buyers (46 percent) were between ages 18 and 34, according to PostTrak. Higher-priced Imax and premium large format screens accounted for a whopping 35 percent of the gross ((Imax alone turned in $25 million). And 3D accounted for 25 percent of ticket sales.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.