Jurassic World Dominion has earned $18 million at the domestic box office during its Thursday previews, but its box office prospects may pale when compared to the past two films in the trilogy.
The reviews for Jurassic World Dominion must beg the question: Will fans go watch it? Currently, Jurassic World Dominion sits at 34 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest of any title in the franchise. However, even with Fallen Kingdom's 47 percent (and the shared distaste among many lifelong Jurassic Park fans), the film still managed to earn $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office. While the Jurassic World trilogy may not get the best reviews, fans still seem drawn to the theaters and the experience.
Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Jurassic World Dominion may have trouble drawing in the same crowd as the past two films. Heading into opening weekend, tracking shows that the film is projected to open with $125 million domestically. This would put the finale of the trilogy behind 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($148 million) and 2015’s Jurassic World ($208.8 million). However, experts suspect that this projection is too much of a safe bet, considering that Dominion's $18 million in previews beat out Fallen Kingdom's $15.3 million.
This time, Dominion has decided to target fans of both the Jurassic World trilogy and Steven Spielberg's original Jurassic Park. For the first time since the 1993 hit film, Sam Neill (Alan Grant), Laura Dern (Ellie Sattler), and Jeff Goldblum (Ian Malcolm) are returning to face off with the prehistoric beasts once again. First revealed back in February, the return of the trio invokes a sense of nostalgia for those who grew up with the original Jurassic Park franchise. Older generations may be drawn to the finale of this trilogy, causing box office numbers to exceed expectations.
Directed by Colin Trevorrow, who previously directed the first Jurassic World, Dominion takes place four years after the events of Fallen Kingdom. Dinosaurs are now living alongside humans, creating a perfectly imbalanced life cycle. The idea of co-existing has been visited in many of the past six films, but the finale shares what that reality is like. The once locked-up dinosaurs are now at the top of the food chain, testing humanity's ability to fight for dominance in an unfriendly ecosystem.
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return to reprise their roles as Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, with DeWanda Wise joining the cast as Kayla Watts, a newcomer hero who teams up with Owen and Claire. Isabella Sermon also returns as Maisie Lockwood, the teenage clone of her mother, who has also become Owen and Claire's foster daughter. With a new enemy on their tail and dinosaurs on the horizon, it is up to the team to figure out how to exist in this new landscape.
Jurassic World Dominion is now playing in theaters everywhere.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter