Update 6/15: "Jurassic World" has earned $209 million domestic, making it the biggest opening of all time. Bow down.
While critics and fanboys were mixed on "Jurassic World," that didn’t stop audiences for one moment. Colin Trevorrow‘s dinosaur blockbuster took a huge bite out of the box office with a $204.6 million domestic take, making it the second biggest Friday to Sunday opening in history, sandwiched between "The Avengers" and "Avengers: Age Of Ultron." And those numbers helped make the worldwide haul of $511 million the biggest debut of all time, passing the previous record of $494 million by "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part II." And did ticket buyers like it? You bet they did. They gave the movie a solid A Cinemascore, which bodes very well for "Jurassic World" having some strong legs for the rest of the summer.
It doesn’t need to be said, but the numbers are simply huge any way you look it. Domestically, "Jurassic World" beat the opening weekends of all three previous movies in the franchise combined. Nearly half of the domestic total came from 3D screenings, with another 10% from IMAX, and frankly, rival studios were right to stay very, very far away from the movie, which Universal opened to no competition from the other majors. The demographics are interesting too. 61% of ticket buyers were over 25-years-old, with a nearly even split between men and women. Lastly, Universal’s accountants are staying busy — the studio has crossed both $1 billion domestically and $3 billion worldwide in 2015, the fastest any studio has nailed those benchmarks in history.
This marks another big blockbuster success for Chris Pratt, though it still puts him in an unknown position. Is he a certified new superstar, or just lucky enough to lead movies that are part of an already established brand? Maybe it’s time for director Colin Trevorrow to be given a hand for taking a monumental leap from indie movie to tentpole picture, executing it with skill to spare (I’d argue "Jurassic World" is better directed than ‘Ultron’ by a mile) and delivering a hugely crowd-pleasing experience.
Not surprisingly, the rest of the box office was pretty quiet with everyone lining up for more dino-action. "Mad Max: Fury Road" quietly upped its domestic total to $138.6 million, with the movie becoming the best performing R-rated action flick since "300." And it’s certainly a much better action movie too.
Elsewhere, the tale of this weekend are movies dropping pretty hard. Perhaps the biggest falloff is "Insidious 3," which saw a nearly 68% drop from its opening weekend, though that kind of figure isn’t totally uncommon for horror pictures. Nearly 58% less Axe-scented bros went to see the bros in "Entourage" get their bro game going, while similar numbers declined to see Dwayne Johnson body slam earthquakes in "San Andreas."
Meanwhile, in limited release, Sundance charmer "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" scored $69,254 from fifteen theaters, for a per-screen average of $4,617. Check out the full top ten below.
1. Jurassic World — $204.6 million
2. Spy — $16 million ($56.9 mil.)
3. San Andreas — $11 million ($119.3 mil.)
4. Insidious: Chapter 3 — $7.3 million ($37.3 mil.)
5. Pitch Perfect 2 — $6 million ($170 mil.)
6. Entourage — $4.3 million ($25.8 mil.)
7. Mad Max: Fury Road — $4.1 million ($138.6 mil.)
8. Avengers: Age Of Ultron — $3.6 million ($444.7 mil.)
9. Tomorrowland — $3.4 million ($83.6 mil.)
10. Love & Mercy — $1.5 million ($4.5 mil.)