Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom dominated the box office this weekend, knocking Disney-Pixar’s behemoth Incredibles 2 into second place.
The $170-million dinosaur blockbuster posted $150 million (Dh550.8 million) in North American receipts, beating analysts’ predictions of $130 million to $140 million, according to figures from measurement firm ComScore.
“We’re obviously thrilled with our opening,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s domestic distribution chief. “Not only with the domestic box office, but we’re adding to a tremendous global result already.”
Fallen Kingdom topped the international box office for the third weekend in a row with $106.7 million, an estimated international gross of $561.5 million and a global gross of $711.5 million. It boasts an A-minus rating on CinemaScore and a 50 per cent “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“There’s a lot of summer left to go, so it’s just a great position to be in,” Orr added.
The latest in the long-running Jurassic Park series, Fallen Kingdom comes 25 years after the first film and three years after 2015’s reboot of the series. New franchise stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return to save the surviving dinosaurs from an extinction-level event while series veteran Jeff Goldblum reprises his role as Ian Malcolm.
The Jurassic World movies are a revival of the franchise created by Steven Spielberg in 1992. The previous Jurassic World collected $209 million in its first weekend in North American theatres, fuelled in part by high audience anticipation for the first Jurassic film in 14 years. It went on to gross almost $1.7 billion worldwide, $1 billion of which came from international tickets.
“The Jurassic franchise is really synonymous with nostalgia in a way,” said Orr. “The scale, the spectacle. It’s become something for every generation of moviegoer. It’s awe-inspiring and it gives you a look at dinosaurs that you haven’t seen before. The results obviously speak for themselves.”
Moviegoers have taken advantage of enhanced opportunities to see the film. Imax theatres account for $46 million in global receipts for Fallen Kingdom, and a whopping $380 million has been generated globally from 3-D ticket sales.
Incredibles 2 added $80.9 million in its second weekend, a 56% drop, for a cumulative $350 million. The film, which was expected to gross upwards of $90 million in the US and Canada this weekend, took in $56.8 million internationally for a global gross of $485 million.
In third place, Warner Bros.’ Oceans 8 pulled in $11.6 million in its third weekend, for a cumulative $100 million in ticket sales.
