The dinos are looking good.
Jurassic World Rebirth is on course for an opening day gross of $28 million at the domestic box office — among the top 20 Wednesday grosses of all time — for an estimated five-day debut of $127.5 million, according to early returns. The summer tentpole opened Wednesday, July 2, in North America in order to take advantage of the long Fourth of July holiday corridor. It’s also opening almost everywhere overseas for a projected global debut north of $250 million.
The seventh installment in the action-adventure franchise, from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Productions and Universal, features an all new cast anchored by Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey.
So far, Jurassic World Rebirth is performing on the higher end of expectations.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story filmmaker Gareth Edwards directs from a script by original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp. The story follows an extraction team who race to an island research facility that factored into the original Jurassic Park (along the way, they discover a shipwrecked family). Now, the island is inhabited by the worst of the worst creatures that were left behind.
Rebirth also stars Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono and Audrina Miranda. Producers include longtime franchise stewards Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, with Spielberg and Denis Stewart exec producing.
The first three Jurassic World pics, which made up their own trilogy, all grossed north of $1 billion globally, and all opened higher than Rebirth domestically. At the same time, the latest film cost less to produce, or $225 million before marketing. In 2015, Jurassic World opened to a franchise-best $208.8 million, followed by $148 million for 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and $145 million for 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion, not adjusted for inflation. (All grosses rep three-day openings.)
The first Jurassic Park, directed by Spielberg, opened to $47 million domestically in early June of 1993, not adjusted for inflation — a huge sum at the time.
Spielberg is always closely involved in the production of a Jurassic film, and was particularly so in the case of Rebirth, since it sets the stage for a new set of movies.
Other titles to watch over the holiday weekend include Brad Pitt’s F1: The Movie, which heads into its second weekend after opening to $57 million domestically, a stellar number for a racing pic about Formula One.
