Box Office: Jurassic World Beats, Sets World Record Open
$CMCSA, $DIS, $FOX, $LGF, $TWX
Universal’s, a unit of Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Jurassic World opened to a record setting $204.6-M debut in North America and $511.8-M worldwide 22 years after Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park hit theaters.
The $150-M tentpole received A CinemaScore, proving that dinosaurs are strong as superheroes.
Jurassic World’s estimated weekend beat the $191.3-M launch of sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron last month, and almost matching the $207.4-M launch of The Avengers in May 2012.
Globally, the movie posted the largest weekend debut in movie history, eclipsing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 ($483.2-M) and becoming the 1st film to ever cross $500-M in 1 weekend, thanks to an international take of $307.2-M from 66 markets, the 2nd biggest foreign opening after Deathly Hallows 2 ($314-M).
Internationally, China led overseas with $100.8-M, followed by the UK and Ireland ($29.6-M), Mexico ($16.2-M), South Korea ($14.4-M), France ($12.5-M), Australia ($12.1-M), Germany ($11-M) and Russia ($9.4-M).
In North America, some rival studios have Jurassic World tying with or beating the first Avengers, but Universal is being cautious in projecting Sunday’s traffic because of Sunday night’s NBA Finals game.
Studios always estimate their weekend number Sunday morning, followed by any adjusted figures Monday.
The performance of the 4th installment no doubt furthers Chris Pratt’s star power a year after Guardians of the Galaxy propelled him to leading man status. Mr. Pratt shares top billing in Jurassic World with Bryce Dallas Howard.
According to Rentrak, 58% of ticket buyers were males, while 50% of the overall audience was under the age of 25, a prized demographic that has become increasingly rare at the multiplex, particularly younger males.
Jurassic World is another major victory for Universal Pictures Chairwoman Donna Langley and her production Team, who brought on Furious 7, Fifty Shades of Grey and Pitch Perfect 2. At the weekend, the studio pasted Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), and Disney (NYSE:DIS) to claim No. 1 in domestic market share for the year with more than $1-B in ticket sales.
Playing in 4,273 theaters, Jurassic World received the widest North American release in the studio’s history. And it did huge business in 3-D venues, which contributed roughly 48% of all domestic revenue, a strong showing considering 3-D has been on the wane for lack of exciting content. Moviegoers also saw the film in Imax (NYSE:IMAX) locations, which ponied up a record $44.1-M globally and $20.6-M domestically. Premium large format screens also saw record traffic, turning in a sizable $16.2-M.
Colin Trevorrow directed the film based on characters created by Michael Crichton. Legendary co-financed the film, with Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment co-producing.
Elsewhere in the Top 10, Melissa McCarthy’s action-comedy Spy fell 45% to $16-M for a 10-day domestic total of $56.9-M for Fox (NASDAQ:FOX), and director Paul Feig.
Entourage fell 58% in its 2nd weekend to $4.3-M, putting its North American take at $25.9-M.
Also at the specialty box office
The Brian Wilson musical biopic Love & Mercy enjoyed a strong 2nd weekend as it expanded into a total of 573 theaters, moving up to # 10 with $1.7-M, and an estimated domestic total of $4.7-M for Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate (NYSE:LGF).
Have some fun, see a movie this week.
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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