By Rebecca Rubin
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - "Jurassic World Dominion" stomped to the top of box office charts, scoring a massive $143 million in its domestic box office debut.
Despite blistering reviews, the sixth film in Universal's dinosaur saga is looming large over a sizzling weekend at the domestic box office. It's only the third time in the pandemic era that ticket sales have collectively eclipsed the $200 million mark, according to Comscore. That's also thanks to the enduring popularity of "Top Gun: Maverick," which is still flying high in second place.
Even with the near-deafening roar of "Jurassic World," Tom Cruise's beloved blockbuster "Top Gun: Maverick" stayed strong, adding $50 million from 4,262 North American cinemas in its third weekend in theaters. That's a huge turnout for any film at this point in its theatrical run, but it's even more impressive to pull in those numbers at a time in which "Dominion" is also packing a major punch at the box office.
By comparison, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" grossed $56 million in its third weekend, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" drummed up $32 million in its third weekend, and "The Batman" with Robert Pattinson collected $36 million in its third weekend. With $50 million between Friday and Sunday (a 44% decline from last weekend), "Top Gun: Maverick" has generated a staggering $393.3 million to date.
For "Dominion," initial box office returns represent a slight decline in popularity, though the big-budget tentpole is still raking in huge amounts of money. To be fair, the latest installment in the prehistoric series has some Triceratops-sized footprints to live up to at the box office. "Jurassic World," which rebooted the popular "Jurassic Park" trilogy in 2015, opened to a gargantuan $208 million and ended its theatrical run with $653 million in North America and $1.6 billion globally. Its sequel, 2018's "Fallen Kingdom," debuted to a softer-but-still-spectacular $150 million and tapped out with $417 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide.
"This is an excellent opening," says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. "Reviews are weak, but that has never stopped these beasts."