'Jurassic World' sequel is already close to a $1 billion box office

IMAGE: UNIVERSAL PICTURES

BY ADAM ROSENBERG2 DAYS AGO

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.