Following its opening weekend,Jurassic World Rebirthhas overtaken the total gross of a Steven Spielberg sci-fi classic. Directed by Gareth Edwards, the latest installment in theJurassic Parkfranchise stars Scarlett Johansson as Zora Bennett, the leader of an expedition into a dangerous equatorial region to recover dinosaur DNA for a medical breakthrough.
Johansson is joined in theJurassic World Rebirthcastby Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, and Mahershala Ali, among others, and the film’s screenplay hails from originalJurassic Parkwriter David Koepp. After birthing the franchise with his seminal 1993 blockbuster, Spielberg serves as an executive producer on the new film.
According to new data fromBox Office Mojo,Jurassic World Rebirth’s worldwide box office haul after its first full weekend in theaters stands at $318 million. This means the film has already surpassed Spielberg’sClose Encounters of the Third Kind(1997), which has a worldwide gross of $306 million and a Rotten Tomatoes critics' score of 90%.
Rebirth’s worldwide total after the five-day holiday weekend comprises $147 million domestically and $171 million internationally, while forClose Encounters, the lifetime gross figures stand at $135 million for the former and $171 million for the latter.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind’s worldwide box office total listed above has not been adjusted for inflation.
What This Means For Jurassic World Rebirth
How Much Does The Film Need To Break Even?
IfClose Encounters' total was adjusted for inflation, it would leadRebirthby a fairly large margin, but box office figures tend to be presented as they were in the year of their collection. In any case,Rebirthis off to a strong start financially, and the film is already well on the way to recovering its estimated production budget of $180 million.
Using the standard Hollywood rule of thumb,Rebirthcould be looking at a break-even point around $450 million, a figure it will undoubtedly hitin the weeks ahead. Whether it can reach the heights of its predecessors, however, is less clear.
The three previousJurassic Worldmovieswere all able to top $1 billion at the box office, with the 2015 reboot leading the franchise at $1.670 billion worldwide.Jurassic Worldopened to $208 million domestically, beatingRebirth. It’s worth noting, too, thatRebirth’s $147 million figure actually includes the full five-day holiday weekend, which needs to be taken into account with any comparisons.
Jurassic World Rebirthreviewshave been mixed from critics and somewhat lukewarm from audiences, and this could affect the film’s legs. OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has only a 72% Popcornmeter score from audiences. That being said,Dominionhas a mildly better 77% Popcornmeter score and was a massive success, so this may not be a strong indicator of future performance.
Our Take On Rebirth’s Latest Box Office Milestone
The Jurassic Franchise Shows Great Resiliency
If there’s one thing that the three previousJurassic Worldmovies make clear, it’s thataudiences can’t get enough of the franchise’s dinosaur action. After the acclaimedJurassic Park, almost every subsequent installment has struggled when it comes to critical reception, but the box office of each installment (save for the third film) is why new installments keep getting made.
UnlessRebirthsuffers a catastrophic drop at the box office over the next few weeks, it seems likely to end up being a modest success at worst. Another sequel, then, is likely. Even if aJurassic World Rebirthfollow-up also struggles to recapture the magic of Spielberg’s original, though, this franchise won’t be going extinct anytime soon.
