Universal’s dino-sized “Jurassic” franchise is showing no signs of extinction at the box office.
“Jurassic World Dominion,” the sixth installment in the long-running series, pulled in a monster $176 million from 72 international markets over the weekend, bringing its overseas total to $245 million. Combined with its $143 million domestic debut, the film stands at a robust $389 million and will imminently cross the $400 million mark.
Directed by Colin Trevorrow and starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt, “Dominion” opened in 57 new foreign markets this weekend, including China, the United Kingdom and France.
China, which has been increasingly hostile to Hollywood films, embraced the film, where it opened in first place with $52.5 million. Those ticket sales are far behind the opening weekend of its franchise predecessor 2018’s “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($109 million between Friday and Sunday) but closer to 2015’s “Jurassic World” ($62 million between Friday and Sunday). However, neither of those films had to grapple with a COVID-impaired moviegoing market. Since China has hardly imported any movies during the pandemic, “Dominion” easily secured the biggest non-local release in 2022, as well as the third-best showing since the beginning of the pandemic, falling below only “F9: The Fast Saga” ($136 million to start) and “Godzilla vs. Kong” ($69 million to start).
Other top-grossing territories include the U.K. and Ireland with $15.4 million, France with $9.7 million, Australia with $8.5 million and Germany with $7.5 million.
Though critics have skewered the latest “Jurassic” adventure, moviegoers have been way more receptive to the film. That’s a good thing, because “Jurassic World Dominion” carries a hefty $185 million production budget and cost at least $100 million more to promote the film to audiences across the globe. Turning a profit could be as arduous as outrunning a T-Rex.
Despite “Jurassic World Dominion” casting a massive shadow over global box office charts, “Top Gun: Maverick” has continued to fly in rarified air. Over the weekend, Paramount’s widely embraced sequel to 1986’s “Top Gun” soared past the $700 million worldwide, with ticket sales currently at $747 million. That’s a massive result for any film, but especially one that doesn’t involve superheroes.
In its third weekend of release, Tom Cruise’s blockbuster has remained a huge draw, bringing in $52.7 million from 64 international markets. Those ticket sales mark a scant 39% decline from its sophomore outing and take its overseas total to $353.7 million. “Maverick” has raked up the most tickets in the U.K. ($63 million so far), followed by Japan ($33.9 million), Australia ($32.6 million) and France ($28.7 million).
If industry skeptics need more proof the worldwide box office is firing on all cylinders, Disney’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” cleared $930 million in global ticket sales over the weekend. Without playing in China or Russia (two major moviegoing markets), the comic book sequel has become the highest grossing movie of the year.