“Jurassic World Dominion” smashed to the top of the box office rankings, grossing $143 million in its first weekend in the United States.
Despite negative reviews, the sixth instalment in Universal’s dinosaur tale is looming large at the domestic box office this weekend. According to Comscore, this is only the third occasion in the epidemic period that ticket sales have surpassed $200 million. That’s because to “Top Gun: Maverick’s” ongoing appeal, which is still soaring high in second place.
Despite the near-deafening clamor of “Jurassic World,” Tom Cruise’s popular blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” held strong in its third weekend in theatres, grossing $50 million from 4,262 North American locations. That’s a massive audience for any film at this stage in its run, but it’s even more astounding when “Dominion” is also doing well at the box office.
In comparison, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” took in $56 million in its third weekend, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” took in $32 million, and “The Batman” with Robert Pattinson took in $36 million in its third weekend. “Top Gun: Maverick” has grossed a whopping $393.3 million to date, with $50 million coming in between Friday and Sunday.
Initial box office results for “Dominion” show a modest drop in popularity, but the big-budget tentpole is still pulling in large sums of money. To be fair, the latest entry in the prehistoric series has some Triceratops-sized box office expectations to meet up to. “Jurassic World,” which resurrected the classic “Jurassic Park” trilogy in 2015, debuted with a massive $208 million opening weekend and went on to gross $653 million in North America and $1.6 billion worldwide. The sequel, “Fallen Kingdom,” opened to a less-than-stellar $150 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide in 2018.
“This is an excellent opening,” says David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research, a movie consulting business. “Reviews are weak, but that has never stopped these beasts.”
