Dinosaurs still rule the Earth as Jurassic Park Dominion makes boffo box office
The only thing people like more than CGI-lite blockbusters are CGI-heavy blockbusters
Aux News Jurassic Park
It turns out people still really like those Jurassic Park movies. Despite receiving the worst reviews of the entire franchise, Jurassic World Dominion trounced the box office competition like a CGI tyrannosaurus downing a very real F-14 flown by Tom Cruise. Forced scenarios about a movie we desperately want to see aside, Jurassic World Dominion made more than $143.4 million domestically and $389 million globally in its opening weekend.
The supposedly final chapter in the Jurassic Park saga showed Warner Bros. how to conclude nobody cares about: Bring back the original stars who are so good at looking at CGI shit that it simply doesn’t matter if the effects are practical or not. This creates a bit of trouble for all the box office analysts ready to declare the age of the overblown, over-budgeted, over-digitized special effects spectacle dead in the wake of Top Gun: Maverick’s near-universal acclaim and box office ascension.
Maybe, and we’ll tread carefully here, there’s room for both. Though it fell from the top spot for the first time since its release, Top Gun: Maverick had another excellent week, cruising off strong word of mouth to another $50 million. Currently, Maverick has made more than $393 million in the U.S. and $747 million worldwide, a rarity for a movie without the word “Marvel” in the title.
Speaking of the MCU, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, celebrating its first month in theaters, fell to a distant number three this week, bringing in $4.8 million. The film’s worldwide gross sees Sam Raimi’s romp around the Wanda-verse nearing a billion dollars with $930 million.
Another franchise was in spitting distance of Multiverse. The Bob’s Burger Movie, which felt like a sacrificial lamb (mmmm… sacrificial lamb burger) at the Memorial Day weekend box office, continues to make modest returns, flipping a charming 90-minute family comedy into $2.3 million in its fourth week.
Closing out the top five, DreamWorks Animation and Universal’s The Bad Guys, a film that came out two months ago, made $2.3 million in North America. The Bad Guys has made $229 million around the world, which feels a little light for an animated kids’ movie. But this thing will probably clean up on streaming.
Here’s the rest of the top ten:
- Jurassic Park Dominion
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
- The Bob’s Burgers Movie
- The Bad Guys
- Downton Abbey: A New Era
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Firestarter
- Sonic The Hedgehog 2
- Ante Sundharaniki
[via Box Office Mojo]
29 Comments
It was the first JP/W franchise entry my seven-year-old has seen on the big screen, and he loved it.
Reviews mean nothing in that context.
When the original did its 3D IMAX tour a while back I took my son, who had never seen it, and to this day it’s his favorite theater experience. Kids like dinosaurs.
Yeah, my 8-year old daughter was bouncing throughout. I truthfully have not seen either of the Jurassic World movies so I had no idea what was going on with the subplots, but she seemed to be able to make sense of it. Look, it was an opportunity to go see a “scary, grown up movie” with my youngest kid, and that was pretty fun.
“Boffo Box Office” is a registered trademark of Tom Snyder.
This spells Boffo Box Office for John Q. Popcorn.
Was av club always this or snarky or has time softened me into being less snarky and now I notice it more?
Always.
It’s always been this snarky, it’s just that in the halcyon days of O’Neal the snark was directed where it was deserved rather than just being sprayed around at random.
Shut up and let people have fun at the movies.
Sounds like a classic five bagger
I agree. People should just stop reviewing movies.
The supposedly final chapter in the Jurassic Park saga showed Warner Bros. how to conclude nobody cares about
Speaking of things nobody cares about: proofreading!
The supposedly final chapter in the Jurassic Park saga showed Warner Bros. how to conclude nobody cares about when you someone eat it.
No kidding. Also the headline of the damn article has the wrong title of the movie. Sheesh.
“Bring back the original stars who are so good at looking at CGI shit that it simply doesn’t matter if the effects are practical or not.”Pretty much! Without them, I would’ve waited for Peacock. But I wasn’t gonna pass up one last adventure with dear Dr. Sattler.
The Bob’s Burgers Movie brought me so much concentrated joy that I’m still recovering
lol wtf is boffo
Variety-speak they use in headlines.Zack Norman IS “Sammy” in Chief Zabu!
lol wtf is starz
So much for the death of movie theaters.
Movie theaters chains are still struggling. Chains use to be doing all around much bigger business on a regular spell. The complete box office is still weak as fuck compared to your usually top 10 movies for the summer.
I’ve found it’s good practice to ignore anyone who starts claiming that something has been changed forever. Who thought that people who had been trapped mostly in their homes for a year would NOT want to return to communal experiences??
I saw it yesterday (my wife is a nut for the Jurassic movies) and after seeing all the poor reviews I wasn’t expecting much. But it wasn’t terrible, a bit of a slog in the middle but the ending was entertaining enough. Not nearly as good as Maverick, but Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum are absolutely worth the price of the ticket.
Maverick had no business being as good as it is. It’s pretty much a perfect summer movie. I know it was a project of passion for Cruise, but it exceeded every expectation I had.
I knew it would be good. As much of a weirdo as Cruise is, his obsession with the craft and realism rarely leads to a bad film. Outside of maybe those Jack Reacher movies, I can’t think of a *bad* Tom Cruise film, and those weren’t even bad so much as just forgettable. But I didn’t expect Maverick to hit ALL the nostalgia sweet spots. I was 10 when I saw the original in theaters, probably 3 or 4 times. You would have thought those feels would have worn off in the past 30 years, but when the opening strains of “Danger Zone” kicked in, I was right back there. It was so awesome.
Ha, I feel like such a fanboy writing this but it was indeed an awesome movie. I mean like best picture candidate good. What I didn’t anticipate was the effectiveness of revisiting this character, who when we last saw him was a rising star, at the moment when his career is winding down. Had a very Before Sunrise / Midnight feel to it. Kilmer’s very real health issues made Iceman’s situation all the more affecting as well. Their relationship seemed so lived-in.I also agree about Cruise. Top Gun made him a superstar and he wasn’t going to let this movie be a failure.
Ohhh good call on the Before Sunrise/Midnight comparison. Revisiting established and well-loved characters after that much time is always interesting. Maverick wasn’t as much of a character study because of the critical circumstances driving the plot forward (uranium, etc), but they did a better job than I would have thought exploring his relationship with Rooster, his relationship with Goose retroactively, and even building a credible backstory/romance with Jennifer Connelly, which was one of the few non-throwback relationships in the film. And if you get the chance to see it in D-Box seats (that’s what Cinemark calls them, other theaters might have something similar), definitely do it. They’re essentially motorized/hydraulic seats that integrate rumble/motion into the experience. It’s engaging without being distracting. Wouldn’t work with every movie, but it was fantastic for all the flight scenes in Top Gun.
Jurassic World: Whatever might have earned a terrible review, but this article’s use of “boffo!” deserves an A+.