'Jurassic World: Dominion' Tops Domestic Box Office With $143 Million Debut

Jurassic World: Dominion earned $143 million at the domestic box office in its debut weekend, Varietyreports. While Dominion had the smallest opening sum in the Jurassic World trilogy, there are plenty of positive takeaways for the franchise and the state of movie theaters as a whole.

With an already impressive $245 million internationally, Dominion has generated nearly $390 million worldwide despite less than favorable reviews leading up to its theatrical release. “Despite the critical thrashing the movie’s taking, this is one of those situations where [there’s a] disconnect between the critics and the audience, for whom just seeing those original characters … back on screen was enough to get them psyched to go out to the movie theater,” Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian told the Los Angeles Times.

Dominion’s debut total, coupled with the $50 million earned by Top Gun: Maverick in its third weekend, represents the third time in the pandemic era that ticket sales eclipsed the $200 million mark. Industry analysts speculate these two films simultaneously performing well at the box office could be an encouraging sign for turnout at movie theaters in the coming months. Dergarabedian took it a step further, declaring, “We finally have a summer movie season … after two years where it almost didn’t exist.”

Despite its huge opening weekend, Dominion has a long way to go to even come close to the success of its predecessors. Jurassic World amassed $653 million in North America and $1.6 billion globally, while 2018’s Fallen Kingdom took home $417 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide.