'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' feasts on US$150 million

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“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” topped estimates to devour 150 million US dollars from 4,475 locations in North America this weekend. While it fell short of its predecessors’ record-shattering 208.8 million dollar launch, the dinosaur sequel is off to a mighty start. The Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard-led tentpole has already amassed 711.5 million dollars worldwide, including 561.5 million dollars overseas.

“Fallen Kingdom” easily led the weekend as the lone wide release, though “Incredibles 2” enjoyed a heroic second weekend. The Disney-Pixar sequel picked up another 80 million dollars, bringing its domestic total to 350.3 million dollars. The superhero blockbuster, directed by Brad Bird, launched with 182.7 million dollars, making it the best opening for an animated feature and the eighth-biggest debut of all time.

“Incredibles 2” also earned 56.8 million dollars overseas, taking the international tally to 134.6 million dollars. With a global total of 485 million dollars, “Incredibles 2” has already surpassed the entire run of the original film, “The Incredibles.”

Universal, the studio behind “Fallen Kingdom,” is celebrating its second-best opening ever, only behind 2015’s “Jurassic World.”

(L-R) Actor Jeff Goldblum, director J.A. Bayona, actors Bryce Dallas Howard, Daniella Pineda, Justice Smith, Chris Pratt and Toby Jones arrives at the premiere of 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on June 12, 2018 in Los Angeles, California, US. /VCG Photo

“We are obviously thrilled with our opening at the North American box office,” Jim Orr, head of domestic distribution at Universal, said. “We found that we are playing very broadly in all four quadrants. [J.A. Bayona] really crafted an extraordinarily intense film. I expect word of mouth to be stellar.”

The tentpole, co-produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, is the fifth installment in the “Jurassic” franchise. The film has received a mixed critical response with a 50 percent average on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- CinemaScore. Moviegoers under the age of 25 accounted for 56 percent of audiences, while 54 percent were males.

Of “Fallen Kingdom’s” 711 million dollars haul, 380 million dollars came from 3D ticket sales, along with 105 million dollars from RealD. It also opened on 410 Imax screens, where it brought in 13 million US dollars.

Meanwhile, “Ocean’s 8” has crossed a major milestone of its own. In its third weekend, the female-led spinoff hit the 100 million US dollar mark in North America. The Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures film pocketed 11.6 million dollars this weekend. Overseas, the heist movie stole 26.9 million US dollars for a global total of 171 million dollars.

Another Warner Bros. title, “Tag,” landed in fourth with 8.2 million US dollars. The comedy has brought in 30 million US dollars domestically, officially clearing its 28 million US dollar production budget.

Rounding out the top five is Ryan Reynolds’ “Deadpool 2” with 5.2 million dollars. The 20th Century Fox sequel passed the 300 million US dollar mark domestically and made 700 million US dollars globally. The original “Deadpool” finished its box office run with 363 million US dollars in North America and 783 million US dollars worldwide.

(L-R) Steven Spielberg, Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt arrive at the premiere of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment's 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on June 12, 2018 in Los Angeles, California, US./VCG Photo‍

Elsewhere, “Solo: A Star Wars Story” reached 200 million US dollars in North America five weeks in. With another two million US dollars internationally, the Disney and Lucasfilm picture’s worldwide total sits at 353.5 million US dollars.

At the specialty box office, "Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” pocketed 1.8 million US dollars and expanded to 348 theaters. Morgan Neville’s documentary on Mister Rogers, which secured the 10th spot at the domestic box office, has earned an impressive 4.1 million US dollars in three weeks. The biopic will expand to 500 theaters next weekend.

Thanks to the roaring success of “Fallen Kingdom” and “Incredibles 2,” the box office is 97.3 percent bigger than the same weekend last year, according to comScore. Overall, the box office is up 8.5 percent in 2018.

“Notably, the 150 million [US] dollars earned by ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ is more than the 141.9 million US dollars generated by the entire marketplace of 105 films (led by ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’) over the comparable weekend last year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a box office analyst at comScore.

(Cover photo: Executive producer Steven Spielberg poses at the premiere of the movie "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California, US. June 12, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters