The “final” installment of the JURASSIC WORLD movie trilogy, JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION, easily won the weekend with $143.3M at the box office. The original JURASSIC WORLD opened in June 2015 with $209M, followed in June 2018 by JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM with a $149M opening weekend.
Despite coming in at the lowest level of the series, Universal is still likely to be exhaling with relief after critics savaged DOMINION, giving it an abysmal 36% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Moviegoers liked it more, giving out an 80% audience score. It seems likely that Universal will earn back its $165M production budget and then some, once it has collected its share of the worldwide grosses. Even though DOMINION has been described as the final installment in the WORLD series, it seems very likely that moviegoers will eventually see some incarnation of the JURASSIC dinosaurs back in theatres.
TOP GUN: MAVERICK took second place with a gross of $50M in its third weekend, down 44% from last weekend’s result. JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION took over most Premium Large Format (PLF) screens at high-end cinemas, adding to MAVERICK’s decline. In fact, the high-profile venues at most large exhibitors now offer customers a giant screen, and a premium viewing experience using the latest in sound and projection technology.
Over the past five years, AMC has rolled out its IMAX and DOLBY cinema while Regal touts its branded RPX experience, Cinemark offers XD, Marcus has ULTRA SCREEN DLX and B&B is deploying SCREEN X technology. Demand for these immersive experiences is so high that their premium ticket prices now contribute significantly to the opening results for major studio blockbusters.
These auditoriums feature the biggest screens and best sound systems and the most seats in the house. The public has shown a willingness to pay a premium to see blockbusters in the best possible setting. TOP GUN: MAVERICK was the most recent beneficiary, with customers paying up to $5 more per ticket to participate in the stunning jet acrobatics in a PLF setting. In fact, demand for these high-price tickets helped TOP GUN: MAVERICK maintain an impressive box office in its second weekend, dropping only 29% from its opening.
This was the smallest second-week decline OF ALL TIME for any picture with more than $100M in its opening. Typically, exhibitors rotate a new film out of their PLF screens after one to two weeks to make way for the next special effects blockbuster. With a drop of only 29% from week to week, TOP GUN: MAVERICK did an excellent job at sustaining its high-end appeal. Now in its third week, MAVERICK lost most of these PLF screens to make way for JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION, which took a toll on MAVERICK’S grosses.
While most titles would gladly suffer only a 44% decline from their second to the third weekend, Paramount and Tom Cruise may feel that a prolonged run on large screens and auditoriums would have produced even better results. After this weekend take, the 17-day total now stands at $393M and should continue to remain strong for several weeks to come. We’ll be watching how well JURRASIC WORLD: DOMINION can overcome its bad reviews to deliver a strong second week.
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS finished way back in third place with $4.9M, taking its total box office to $398M. All pictures in theatres this weekend grossed $210M, which was 127% of the amount earned by all movies playing on the same weekend in 2019.