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“Jurassic World Dominion” topped the box office and grossed a whopping $143 million on its domestic debut in 4,676 theaters.
Despite rave reviews, the sixth film in Universal’s dinosaur saga exploded at the North American box office over a sizzling weekend. It’s only the third time in the pandemic era that total ticket sales have surpassed $200 million, according to Comscore. That’s also thanks to the continued popularity of Top Gun: Maverick, which still flies high in second place.
Industry analysts are encouraged that the box office picked up two big films over the weekend and see this as a promising sign that box office attendances will continue to recover over the summer.
Even with the near-deafening roar of Jurassic World, Tom Cruise’s beloved blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick stayed strong, adding $50 million from 4,262 North American theaters in its third theatrical weekend. That’s a huge turnout for any film at this point in its theatrical release date, but it’s even more impressive to match those numbers while Dominion is making a big splash in theaters.
For comparison, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” grossed $56 million in its third weekend, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” grossed $32 million in its third weekend, and “The Batman” tied in Robert Pattinson raised $36 million in his third weekend a third weekend. With $50 million between Friday and Sunday (down 44% from last weekend), Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick has grossed a whopping $393.3 million to date. The 1986 sequel to Top Gun has surpassed $700 million at the worldwide box office, with a staggering $747 million to date.
For “Dominion” early box office results mean only a slight decline in popularity; the big-budget tentpole still rakes in tons of money. Of course, the latest installment in the prehistoric series has some Triceratops-sized footprints to live up to at the box office. “Jurassic World,” which rebooted the popular “Jurassic Park” trilogy in 2015, started at a whopping $208 million and finished its theatrical run at $653 million in North America and $1.6 billion worldwide. Its sequel, 2018’s Fallen Kingdom, debuted at a softer but still spectacular $148 million, grossing $417 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide.
Overseas, the latest “Jurassic” adventure has grossed a promising $245 million, bringing its worldwide tally to $389.17 million.
“This is an excellent opening,” says David A. Gross, who runs film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research, of Dominion. “Ratings are weak, but that never stopped these beasts.”
It helps that audiences were far more receptive to “Dominion” compared to critics, with the film earning an excellent “A-” CinemaScore despite a dismal 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. Colin Trevorrow returned to direct Dominion, set after Isla Nublar was destroyed and dinosaurs now live – and hunt – freely alongside humanity. The film reunites original Jurassic Park stars Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern with Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard directing the sequel to the trilogy.
Given the enthusiastic reception from ticket buyers, “Jurassic World Dominion” is expected to be one of the top-grossing tent poles of the summer, leading to Universal capping off its commercially successful sequel trilogy with a bang. It is also necessary to bring the blockbuster into the black. Jurassic World Dominion cost a whopping $185 million to produce and around $100 million to advertise, so it needs to generate big coins to make a profit.
“Seeing a title like ‘Jurassic’ on the big screen is what the summer movie season is all about,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.
This has been particularly true with Dominion, as a significant portion of ticket sales come from advanced formats like Imax and 3D. From Imax alone, the film grossed $12.3 million in North America and $12.7 million internationally. Overall, premium formats accounted for approximately 25% of all worldwide revenue from Jurassic World Dominion, according to Comscore. With most of the country’s premium screens reserved for Jurassic, it’s even more remarkable that Top Gun: Maverick (which was a big hit at Imax) was able to make such a strong impact on domestic box office keep.
“The appetite for the colossal creatures in this franchise continues to be insatiable, and audiences want to experience this film in 3D,” said Travis Reid, CEO and president of RealD, whose company brings 3D screens to theaters.
At number three on the domestic box office chart, Disney’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness added $4.9 million across 3,345 locations. After six weekends in theaters, the comic book sequel has grossed $397.8 million in North America and $532.4 million overseas, taking the film’s worldwide box office to over $930 million. Not set in China or Russia (two major theatrical markets), the second standalone film about Doctor Strange is the highest-grossing global release of 2022.
Disney also ranked #4 with The Bob’s Burgers Movie, a sequel to the popular big screen TV series. The film, also from 20th Century Studios, grossed $2.3 million from 2,605 venues on its third showing. To date, The Bob’s Burgers Movie has grossed $27 million at the domestic box office.
Universal’s heist animated comedy The Bad Guys rounded out the top five with $2.25 million from 2,416 locations. Without much competition for family audiences, “The Bad Guys” stayed in the top five for eight straight weeks, raising $91.5 million in North America and $229.6 million worldwide.
