'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' made $500 million before it even hit U.S. theaters
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was a half-billion dollar moneymaker before its U.S. release on Friday. It has an outside chance of hitting the $1 billion milestone by the end of next weekend.
Not bad for a movie series about a Disney-style theme park built around resurrected-from-extinction dinosaurs.
The latest Jurassic adventure adds an estimated $150 million in U.S. ticket sales to its overall total this weekend, bringing Fallen Kingdom's cumulative global box office up to $711.5 million. The movie opened outside the U.S. as far back as June 6, so we're technically now in its third weekend since release.
To give you some added perspective here: Three weekends was enough to make the latest Jurassic World the third-highest box office winner worldwide in 2018. Its cumulative $711.5 million in sales is just enough to top the former #3, Deadpool 2, which has earned $707.2 million.
A big chunk of the success so far is owed to its success in China. The massive market of Chinese moviegoers is traditionally friendly to Hollywood blockbusters. While the original Jurassic trilogy never released there, 2015's Jurassic World earned $228.7 million (out of its $1.67 billion total worldwide) in China.
Now, Fallen Kingdom has amassed $170 million in the country after just two weekends (it opened in China on June 15).
In the U.S., that $150 million opening is actually far from being a series best. It's a step down from the first World's record-setting (as in, 4th of all time) $208 million opening weekend. And looking at Box Office Mojo's "adjusted for inflation" list -- an imperfect science, at best -- Fallen Kingdom is technically dead last among all Jurassic opening weekends.
Does this mean trouble for the series? Probably not. Critics and fans alike haven't exactly loved the second Jurassic World adventure, but that doesn't change the fact that this massive series has enjoyed a renewed burst of interest following the success of the 2015 film.
Universal is already all-in on a third World, and one that will bring back Colin Trevorrow as the director. Trevorrow directed the first Jurassic World, but stepped back into a producer and co-writer role for the second one.
Even putting aside all of that context: Fallen Kingdom is likely no more than two weeks away from being a billion-dollar movie. It's hard for anyone, in any reality, to find failure in that. Interest in the U.S. seems to have waned around this sequel -- whether that's because of the shuffled crew and/or the critical reception is anyone's guess. But Fallen Kingdom is still a hit.
Topics Film
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
