Dinosaurs are ruling the box office heading into the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
“Jurassic World Rebirth” topped ticket sales on Thursday, its second full day of release, earning a commanding $25.3 million to bring its domestic total to $55.8 million. The Universal release is on track to earn $137.5 million over its first five days of release. It’s a strong result, positioning “Jurassic World Rebirth” to be one of the summer’s bigger hits. However, it’s worth noting that the sequel’s earnings can’t match the debuts of more recent films in the series. “Jurassic World Rebirth” is no match for 2015’s “Jurassic World,” which rebooted the franchise while earning a massive $208 million in its opening weekend. Other entries also eclipsed “Rebirth’s” initial results — 2018’s “Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom” bowed to $148 million and 2022’s “Jurassic World Dominion” premiered to $145 million. Moreover, those “Jurassic” films put up those bigger numbers during their first three days in theaters, not over a five-day holiday. “Jurassic World Rebirth” is expected to earn roughly $82 million of its holiday gross over its opening weekend.
The latest “Jurassic” adventure follows Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey as they tangle with an island-worth of man-eating prehistoric beasts while searching for biomaterial that can be used to develop a wonder drug. It’s really just an excuse to see a mutated T-Rex sink its pearly whites into some poor sucker’s flesh.
Gareth Edwards, whose previous films include “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “Godzilla,” directed the latest “Jurassic World,” with David Koepp, the writer of 1993’s “Jurassic Park,” handling screenplay duties. Universal spent $180 million to make “Jurassic World Rebirth,” plus tens of millions more to market the film. It’s a lot of money, but the film was less expensive than “Dominion,” which cost $250 million and change to produce. Universal is betting “Jurassic World Rebirth” will excite audiences and launch another trilogy of films, extending the life span of a 32-year-old film series. Franchises find a way.
“Jurassic World Rebirth” is the weekend’s only major new release. Its top competition will come from Apple Original Films’ “F1,” which earned $6.1 million on Thursday to push its domestic gross to $83.5 million, as well as Universal’s live-action remake of “How to Train Your Dragon,” which earned $2.8 million on Thursday to bring its stateside haul to $213 million.