'Jurassic World Dominion' roars up $143+ million opening weekend, plus $245 million worldwide

Dinosaurs once again rule the box office. Jurassic World Dominion, the third and final film in the trilogy that began with Jurassic World in 2015, took a massive bite out of North American ticket sales with $143 million in its opening weekend, making it this week's box office champion by quite a margin, according to Variety. 

The film, which marks the return of original Jurassic Park cast members Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern to the Jurassic fold, arrived in nearly 4,700 North American theaters on Friday after months ranking as one of the most-anticipated movies of the summer, and all that anticipation paid off big for Universal Pictures. Audiences also came away from Dominion giving it an "A-" CinemaScore ranking, proving that the combo of the original cast and Jurassic World stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard was a winning one for fans. 

The domestic opening of $143 million places Dominion third in the overall Jurassic World rankings for opening weekends. Jurassic World was able to top $200 million in its first outing back in 2015, while Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom just slightly edges out the third film with its $148 million opening in 2018. Still, the $143 million opener places Dominion above fellow 2022 blockbusters Top Gun: Maverick and The Batman in terms of big opening weekends so far this year, according to Box Office Mojo, and a few million below Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. 

Worldwide, the dominance continued with a take of $245 million overseas so far, putting the $400 million mark overall in reach for the film already. More than $50 million of that came from China, where the film also opened in first place at a time when the country is importing fewer movies amid COVID conditions. So, there's no question that around the world, the Jurassic franchise is king. 

What'll be interesting to watch now is how well the film holds on to that top slot in the coming weeks amid a crowded summer box office. The next few Fridays will see the release of Disney/Pixar's Lightyear (June 17), Universal's own Minions: The Rise of Gru (July 1), and Marvel's Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8), filling theaters with competition and making audience retention more challenging. But with nearly half a billion dollars in its jaws already, it's clear that Dominion will rank among the year's warmest welcomes at the box office.