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Jurassic World Dominion is the new top predator at the box office.
Universal’s dino sequel is expected to gross $142.6 million in 4,676 theaters across North America over the weekend, which would mark the highest domestic premiere for a non-superhero film since the introduction of COVID-19 lockdowns. That dethrones the $126 million benchmark set by the debut of Top Gun: Maverick just two weeks ago.
After taking home $18 million on Thursday, Universal had forecast that the sixth installment in the “Jurassic Park” franchise would make $132.5 million by the weekend.
Dating back to Steven Spielberg’s 1993 original, which was the highest-grossing domestic earner of all time upon its release, the Jurassic Park franchise has a storied legacy at the box office. The previous two films — 2015’s Jurassic World and 2018’s sequel Fallen Kingdom — debuted at $208 million and $150 million, respectively.
With a production price of $185 million before marketing and distribution costs, Jurassic World Dominion needs to continue its run as a box office giant to see green.
Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow returns to the franchise and continues his family film with suburban thriller The Book of Henry. Dominion reunites original stars Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern with new-age headliners Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, and series newcomer DeWanda Wise.
Critics largely disliked “Dominion” as the film received a low approval rating of 31% from all critics on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the audience seems to be more receptive, as is usually the case with the franchise. The Dino sequel received an “A-” rating from CinemaScore, indicating strong reactions from general ticket buyers. While this massive opening weekend is proving to be a generally critical affair, it remains to be seen how general word of mouth will land in the coming weeks.
in the diversityIn his review, chief film critic Peter Debruge was friendlier than most of his peers, writing that Dominion “comes closest to the terrifying threat of human-dinosaur coexistence to the ‘Jurassic’ franchise.”
Though Top Gun: Maverick takes a bite from the loss of premium-format theaters to Dominion, Tom Cruise’s sequel is still flying steadily. The Paramount release is expected to gross $50 million at the domestic box office in its third weekend, an impressive 44% drop from its second outing. That number would also place the film in the top ten highest-grossing third weekends in domestic box office history.
With Maverick approaching the $400 million domestic mark, it looks set to overtake Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as the highest-grossing release of the year at the domestic box office sometime in the coming week .
Speaking of Doctor, Marvel’s superhero sequel looks set to hit bronze on the domestic charts over the weekend after grossing another $1.3 million on Friday. “Multiverse of Madness” was expected to add another $4.8 million over the weekend to take its North American gross domestic product to $397 million, closer to the $400 million mark.
Disney and 20th Century Studios’ The Bob’s Burgers Movie appears to be in fourth place, forecasting a 51% decline to $2.2 million. The animated publication increased its gross domestic product to over $25 million on Friday. Although the film had a modest box office performance, it didn’t break through in a way that would suggest it’s reaching many viewers outside of the long-running animated series’ fan base.
Universal’s “The Bad Guys” is expected to round out the top five, taking its domestic gross to $91 million through Sunday. Having opened eight weeks ago for a modest $24 million, DreamWorks Animation’s production has multiplied its debut by 3.8 times and is capitalizing on a lack of family-friendly pricing at the box office. That run will come to an end next week when Disney opens Pixar’s “Lightyear” nationwide.
