Dinosaurs may be extinct, but their power to draw crowds is stronger than ever. It's been a little over a month since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom made a big entrance to theaters in its first weekend, but it's continued to profit, recently crossing the $400 million mark at the domestic box office. When combined with 2015's Jurassic World, the new franchise has now made more than $1 billion domestically and $2.9 billion worldwide, becoming Universal's most profitable franchise, beating out The Fast & Furious. With the massive success of the sequel, it's clear that the action-packed films are offering much more than 90s nostalgia for the Jurassic Park films, and drawing in new captive audiences.
Fallen Kingdom gave fans an exciting sequel just three years after the franchise comeback in 2015. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprised their roles, this time with some surprising dark and emotional moments not found in its predecessor. Fans were also excited to see Jeff Goldblum join the fun again as the lovable Dr. Ian Malcolm, though he ultimately didn't have much screen time. The Jurassic World sequel's reigning spot holds just under Disney's big-budget films Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity Wars and Incredibles 2 respectively, making it the most successful movie to break the box office and become a billion dollar movie that isn't from the House of Mouse. According to Box Office Mojo, all of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies have made a collective total of $4.8 billion globally.
Before the new franchise recently took hold, the Jurassic Park films always performed well at the box office, so it's not a big surprise that its inherited this streak with the Jurassic World movies. When Jurassic Park made its debut in 1993, it was by far the highest grossing movie of the year. When Jurassic World made a comeback, it was only eclipsed by the release of another returning franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Fallen Kingdom's success has earned it a #32 spot in the all-time domestic top fifty, surpassing Frozen and just two spots under the one that started it all, Jurassic Park. It competed well over Chris Pratt's other giant sequel of last year, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, and the Parks and Rec alum is having a very good year.
While Universal has released many other sequels this year, no other has come close to the success of Fallen Kingdom. Fifty Shades Freed was the only other 2018 Universal film to break $100 million, with Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again now closely behind. However, the end of 2018 does look for Universal with Ryan Gosling & Damien Chazelle's First Man, the new Halloween and Dr. Suess's The Grinch making their way to theaters soon. Besides Disney's solid hold at the top of 2018, few upcoming big films have the ability to surpass Fallen Kingdom.
