By Chris Kavan - 06/14/15 at 08:38 PM CT
There was little doubt as to what movie was going to come out on top this weekend. Jurassic World was the only new wide-release film, and Universal was estimating an opening in the $105 million range. Jurassic World didn't just beat that estimate - it obliterated it, shattering a few records in the process. While final numbers may trend slightly downward, one thing is for certain, after weeks of trailing behind last year, Jurassic World helped the weekend to a whopping 47% increase compared to the same weekend last year. With plenty of other big films on the way, hopefully this trend will continue.
1) JURASSIC WORLD
Just how good was the opening for Jurassic World? The film made an astounding $204.6 million over the weekend. That makes it the second-best opening of all time (behind The Avengers at $207.4 million) and the biggest opening of 2015. It easily shattered the record for a June opening, topping Man of Steel at $116 million. It Friday total of $82.8 million was the third best ever, behind Age of Ultron ($84.4M) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 ($91M). If numbers hold (and, as always it's not a given they will) it will surpass The Avengers for the best per-theater average of all time at $47,871 per theaters (compared to Avengers at $47,700). It also set a record on the international front - with $307.2 million overseas, it's $511.8 million makes it the only film to open above $500 million on the world-wide front. It is the best opening for Universal (beating out Furious 7 at $147.1 million) as well as the best opening for co-financier Legendary (beating out all of the Dark Knight films). Audiences were as enthusiastic as critic, awarding it an "A" Cinemascore and boding well for long-term prospects. The audience was split almost down the middle (52% male, 48% female) and 61% was over 25. 3D accounted for about 48% of its grosses. If the estimated $150 million budget is accurate, it also cost about $100 million less than Age of Ultron. Overall, Jurassic World led the way for the top ten to hit $260 million - also a new record.
UPDATE: Final numbers mean Jurassic World did even better than expected - domestic opening of $208.8 million now put it ahead of The Avengers for the biggest opening ever and its international debut of $315.6 million puts it ahead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 to make it the biggest overseas debut of all time.
2)
SPY
With Jurassic World taking the vast majority of the box office, Spy was the only other film to earn over $12 million for the weekend. The Melissa McCarthy-led comedy took in $16 million (off about 45% compared to last weekend), and raised its total to nearly $57 million. That drop is bit higher than previous McCarthy films and it now seems as thought long-term prospects for the film are a bit dimmer and it remains to be seen whether it will now be able to top Tammy ($84.5 million) or if it will continue to drop quickly out of the picture.
3)
SAN ANDREAS
The disaster picture also dropped a spot, earning $11 million (down 57.4%) for a new total of $119.3 million. While Jurassic World obviously took a big chunk out of its audience, Dwayne Johnson is still looking good as a leading man (though not quite as good as Chris Pratt) and the film will top $125 million by next weekend.
4)
INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 3
The horror sequel/prequel took a huge hit, dropping nearly 68% (on par with many other horror film) and brought in $7.3 million for a new total of $37.3 million. With that kind of drop, it's looking like the third chapter is also going to be the lowest-grossing chapter.
5)
PITCH PERFECT 2
The women of Pitch Perfect 2 actually rose a spot - from sixth place last weekend - back into the top five. The film took in $6 million (down just 20.8%) and now stands at $170.7 million - and if it does not top $175 million by next week - it will do so the following.
Outside the top five: Entourage managed to cross the $25 million mark by bringing in $4.34 million (6th place, off nearly 58%). That is likely going to be the only milestone it reaches, as the film is quickly falling out of the picture.
In limited release, Me, Earl and Dying girl took in $210,000 from 15 theaters for a decent $14,000 per-theater-average. We'll see if that result is enough to earn it a more robust release schedule.
Next week brings us the latest film from Pixar, Inside Out - which has already received some rave reviews from the festival crowd. We also get the hip-hop-oriented coming-of-age story Dope. Coupled with Jurassic World, I think we're looking at another huge weekend - and it will be interesting to see how the dinosaurs hold up against the animation giant.
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