“Jurassic World Dominion,” the third film in the rebooted “Jurassic” franchise of movies led by Chris Pratt, made $18 million at the box office Thursday in its initial preview showings that began at 4 p.m. from 4,150 screens. It opens on 4,676 screens this weekend.
“Dominion” is projected for a T-Rex size $125+ million opening weekend, though it will be interesting to see how the film performs as “Top Gun: Maverick” enters into its third week after staying strong since its Memorial Day opening.
And a start of $125 million would in fact be below the performance of its predecessor, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” which opened to $148 million in June 2018. For comparison though, “Dominion” beat out “Fallen Kingdom” in its first round of showings, which made only $15.3 million in its preview showings. For another comparison, two weeks earlier, “Top Gun: Maverick” made $19.2 million in its Thursday previews that also began early in the afternoon at 3 p.m., and it went on to make $124 million in its 3-day opening weekend.
Internationally, “Jurassic World Dominion’s” cumulative gross is $95.1 million from holdovers and new openers. The film opens in 57 new markets this weekend, taking the film’s rollout total to 72 markets.
“Dominion” however has the added luxury of bringing back the original trio of stars from Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park,” including Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern. Colin Trevorrow, who directed the first “Jurassic World” movie and revived the franchise to the tune of a $208 million opening, returns to direct after stepping aside for the sequel. And while the film should be critic-proof, “Dominion” also has only a 37% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Jurassic World Dominion” picks up four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar in which dinosaurs now live–and hunt–alongside humans all over the world. But things change when Pratt’s Owen Grady discovers that one of the raptors has unexpectedly given birth, only to see that baby dinosaur kidnapped.
Bryce Dallas Howard also returns to lead the cast, which includes newcomers DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Dichen Lachman, Scott Haze and Campbell Scott. The film’s returning cast includes BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, Justice Smith as Franklin Webb, Daniella Pineda as Dr. Zia Rodriguez and Omar Sy as Barry Sembenè.
“Jurassic World Dominion” is a production of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment and has a screenplay by Emily Carmichael & Colin Trevorrow from a story by Derek Connolly and Trevorrow, all based on characters by Michael Crichton.
