As expected, the release of Jurassic World: Dominion has proved another cozy feather in the Box Office cap, but the same can’t be said of the film itself. With noticeably lukewarm reviews, despite a sizable boost in profits, it might be time to retire this IP for good. Blake & Wang P.A’s Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer and industry insider, has more.
Solid Performance
It’s certainly a welcome addition to the summer Box Office lineup, opening with the third-best domestic opening for a Jurassic Park movie, and the best start for a non-superhero movie during the pandemic era. While still overshadowed by Top Gun: Maverick’s spectacular third weekend, it’s hardly to be sneezed at. It’s also managed to climb from its Thursday previews, and even beat out a few predictions for its opening weekend. It ends its first worldwide weekend at a juicy $389M
Poor Critical Reception
This rather dazzling start seems to fly in the face of critical opinion, however. The film has been dogged by a series of lukewarm reviews that saw a dramatic downwards revision of expectation for its takings. Clearly the dinos are still drawing people in, no matter what anyone has to say about pacing and plot.
Universal certainly mobilized its marketing machine for this one, pulling out all the promotional stops from theme parks to cable and network spots. They also have inbuilt traction in bringing the old cast back for one spectacular finale, which was bound to leave consumers curious.
It leaves us with an interesting question, however. Will this dazzling blockbuster manage to continue the ‘onward and upward trend we’ve seen from similar tent poles over the post-pandemic period, or will audience attendance taper as those soggy reviews saturate the wider movie-going market?
Either way, Jurassic World: Dominion has managed to roar into theaters with an impressive first weekend, and that’s nothing to sneeze at whatever the critics may say.
