Man, even Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are in awe of Jurassic World. The latest installment in the Jurassic Park franchise tore through the international box office this past weekend becoming not only the biggest domestic opening ever, but the biggest global opening as well. Along the way to breaking these records, Jurassic World passed a couple of notable Marvel movies you may have heard of — The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron — and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige paid the massive dino flick a huge compliment.
Feige took to Twitter to congratulate the key players in Jurassic World, including director Colin Trevorrow, producer Steven Spielberg, studios Legendary and Universal, producer Frank Marshall, and star Chris Pratt. As you probably know, Pratt is the lead in his very own Marvel movie, shortly to be a series of Marvel movies, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the image shows the actor, riding a roaring T. Rex, posturing in front of a group of befudled Avengers, including Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Captain America.
As much fun as this image is, it does feel like a bit of a missed opportunity in one regard. The picture shows Pratt’s character, the animal behaviorist Owen, straddling the angry dinosaur in the vest and shirt he wears through most of the movie. Seems like the obvious choice would have been to show Pratt in his Star-Lord gear from Guardians. That might be the only way this could get any better, but that said, it’s still pretty damn great.
Jurassic World seriously made a stupid amount of money over the weekend. When all was said and done, it finished out its debut earning $208.8 million at the U.S. box office, with another $315 plus tacked on from international markets, for a total of $524 million. And that’s from just one weekend.
All signs also indicate that this isn’t going to be a case where a movie opens big then plummets by the next weekend. It may be kind of dumb and goofy, but it’s still a ton of fun, and audiences gave Jurassic World an A Cinemascore, which bodes well for it’s legs at the box office, and it’s getting solid critical reviews. It also has a relatively clear path for at least a few weeks. Pixar’s animated Inside Out opens this coming weekend, which will likely take a substantial bite, but we’ll have to wait and see how big the crossover is in this instance. The next potential competitor is Terminator Genisys, which doesn’t open until July 1, so it’s possible we could see Jurassic World continue to lay waste to its rivals for a good long while.
We’re still waiting to hear any official word on a sequel, though the fact that more films are on the way is inevitable at this point. Chris Pratt has already said that he’s signed up for more installments, and though Colin Trevorrow said he won’t be back as director, he’ll still be involved in a writing and producing capacity. And what the hell, he can do whatever he wants to right now, so maybe it’s time to get that dream project he and writing partner Derek Connolly talked about after Safety Not Guaranteed off the ground.
