The latest entry in the 25-year old Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, stampeded its way to the number one spot at the North America box office this weekend. Joined by a strong second week for Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2, the top ten skyrocketed 97% -yes, you read that right- over one year ago at this time when box office dud Transformers: The Last Knight opened at number one with a terrible $44 million.
In the 1993 Steven Spielberg thriller Jurassic Park, John Hammond “found a way” to bring dinosaurs back from extinction. In 2015, Universal Studios did something similar with the-then dormant Jurassic Park franchise: they produced and released a reboot. Admired by some critics and loved by a generation who never got to see a Jurassic Park film on the big screen, Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World went on to become not only the highest grossing film in the series (pre-inflation), but also one of the biggest box office hits of all time.
That goodwill from Jurassic World, combined with the marketing might of Universal Pictures, has helped the latest chapter – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom-overcome a chorus of critical boos to roar its way to a loud $150 million debut on 4,475 screens. If the numbers hold, the domestic start for Fallen Kingdom will stand as the second-biggest of all time for the Comcast-owned company, just behind Jurassic World’s $208 million.
Jurassic World caught a majority of reviewers in a nostalgic mood. That would explain the film’s 71% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fallen Kingdom, however, wasn’t so lucky. Out of the five films released in the profitable franchise, the critical favorability for Fallen Kingdom is tied for dead last with 2001’s Jurassic Park III. Fallen Kingdom scored a dim 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, the same score earned by JPIII. On Metacritic, Fallen Kingdom earned a 51/100, which is actually higher than the 41/100 JPIII garnered 17 years ago.
But as we all know, the Jurassic franchise has never been about quality storytelling or compelling characters. It’s been about one-dimensional characters being chased and eaten by dinosaurs, which is pretty much what you get with Fallen Kingdom. If that is the case, that would explain why the scored an “A-“ from ticket buyers on CinemaScore. It would also explain why the film should be able to pull in at least $375-400 million domestically and another billion internationally. With $561 million cleared after three weeks of international release, it is well on its way.
Jurassic’s return took a bite out of Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2 in its second weekend, where it dropped 55% from its record $182 million opening. That, however, didn’t stop the film from continuing to rake in the dough for the Mouse House on 4,410 screens. For the Friday to Sunday frame, Brad Bird’s animated blockbuster rescued a superb $81 million in ticket sales, bringing the overall domestic total up to an…ahem…incredible $350.3 million.
The current domestic total makes Incredibles 2 the fourth biggest Pixar film of all time behind Finding Dory, Toy Story 3 and Inside Out. With kids now out of school and the Fourth of July holiday coming up shortly, Incredibles 2 should continue to be a dominant force at the box office, one that will help power the sequel to a super $550 million in ticket sales. Internationally, where the film is still playing in a limited amount of markets, Incredibles 2 has brought in a solid $134 million so far. I think it’s safe to say we won’t be waiting another 14 years for Incredibles 3.
Joining the $100 million club after three weeks is Warner’s hit heist comedy Ocean’s 8 with an estimated $11.65million from 3,656 screens. Down only 39%, the Gary Ross feature has scored $100.3 million so far with a domestic finale around $130 million likely. Internationally, the film has scored $70 million so far.
After debuting to mild numbers last week, Warner/New Line’s Tag had an okay hold this weekend. The ensemble action comedy eased a mild 47% on 3,382 screens, where it earned an estimated $7.4 million. To date, Tag has brought in $30 million with a gross just below $50 million in its sights.
Rounding out the top five was Fox’s Deadpool 2, which hit two box office milestones this weekend. Thanks to an estimated $5.2 million from 2,420 theaters, Deadpool 2 passed the $300 million mark ($304 million, to be precise). DP2 also passed the $400 million mark, a mere $20 million shy of passing the international gross of the 2016 original.
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (Disney) $4 million (-60%); $202 million
- Hereditary (A24) $3.9 million (-44%); $35 million
- Superfly (2018) (Sony) $3.35 million (-51%); $15.2 million
- Avengers: Infinity War (Disney) $2.5 million (-54%); $669.5 million
- Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Focus) $1.9 million (+87%); $4.1 million
Two new movies enter the frame next weekend: Sony’s Sicario sequel Day of the Soldado and the Lionsgate basketball comedy Uncle Drew. Neither will draw numbers big enough to unseat either Fallen Kingdom or Incredibles 2.
