“Jurassic World Dominion” is the new apex predator at the box office.
Universal’s dino-sequel is expected to earn $142.6 million from 4,676 theaters across North America over the weekend, which would mark the highest domestic opening for a non-superhero film since COVID-19 lockdowns were first introduced. That dethrones the $126 million benchmark set by the debut of “Top Gun: Maverick” only two weeks ago.
After taking home $18 million in Thursday previews, Universal had projected the sixth installment in the “Jurassic Park” franchise to earn $132.5 million moving into the weekend.
Stretching back to Steven Spielberg’s 1993 original, which was the highest grossing domestic earner ever upon release, the “Jurassic Park” franchise has a storied box office legacy. The previous two films — “Jurassic World” in 2015 and sequel “Fallen Kingdom” in 2018 — debuted to $208 million and $150 million, respectively.
With a $185 million production price tag before marketing and distribution costs, “Jurassic World Dominion” will need to continue a run as a box office behemoth to see green.
“Jurassic World” director Colin Trevorrow returns to the franchise, following up his family-film-cum-suburban-thriller “The Book of Henry.” “Dominion” unites original stars Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern with new age headliners Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard along with series newcomer DeWanda Wise.
Critics have largely disliked “Dominion,” with the film earning a 22% approval rating from top critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences seem to be more receptive though, as they usually are with the franchise. The dino-sequel earned an “A-” grade from Cinema Score, indicating strong responses from general ticketbuyers. While this massive opening weekend is generally proving to be a critic-proof affair, it remains to be seen how general word-of-mouth will land in the coming weeks.
In Variety‘s review, chief film critic Peter Debruge leaned kinder than most of his peers, writing that “Dominion” “comes the closest of the sequels to delivering on the ‘Jurassic’ franchise’s fearsome threat of human-dinosaur coexistence.”
Meanwhile, though “Top Gun: Maverick” is getting a bite taken out of it by losing premium format theaters to “Dominion,” the Tom Cruise sequel is still flying steady. The film looks likely to blast past “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” as the year’s highest grossing release at the domestic box office sometime in the coming weeks.
More to come..