Is ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ a Box Office Success?

With one week in the spotlight before the Man of Steel made his return to the big screen, Jurassic World Rebirth had a lot to live up to at the box office. Even though only one (arguably two) installments in the Jurassic Park franchise have been met with unambiguously positive reviews, it’s stayed a consistent draw for audiences ever since 1993.

Yet the series is coming off the creative low point of Jurassic World: Dominion, which bafflingly sidelined the dinosaurs in favor of locusts. Thus, director Gareth Edwards has been tasked with giving audiences a clean slate. How have audiences responded to the film? Is Jurassic World Rebirth a box office success? And should we expect another entry in the long-running franchise?

‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Brings Back the Dinos

Set five years after the events of Jurassic World: Dominion, Rebirth focuses on a team of operatives sent to a tropical biosphere, in hopes that they can recover blood samples from dinosaurs, as they’re believed to hold a possible cure for heart disease. Led by Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), the team quickly discovers that the island is also host to hybrid dinosaurs, discarded by InGen due to the danger they posed, and that they are now on the hunt for human flesh.

Related

Making Sense of ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’s Confusing Timeline

‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ introduces a lot of new lore to the franchise, and its opening prologue sets up an interesting retcon for the series.

But the film is also something of a reset of the status quo for the Jurassic Park franchise. One of the few intriguing plot threads from Dominion, that dinosaurs and humans were now forced to cohabitate the planet, is quickly discarded, as it’s revealed that the creatures can only survive in tropical climates. Following an installment that pleased virtually nobody thanks to its sidelining of the main attraction, Rebirth is definitely a return to the dino-driven action that fans have come to expect (and viewers seem to have embraced exactly this).

‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Proves That Audiences Still Love Dinosaurs

It’s honestly hard to think of many franchises that have remained as successful at the box office despite mixed or outright negative reviews as Jurassic Park. To this date, only two installments in the series hold a “Fresh” critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and yet even Star Wars and the MCU have had more certifiable box-office bombs on their hands than Jurassic Park. The same has held true for Rebirth; despite a 52% critical approval rating, it earned $137 million over its opening five-day weekend domestically, and it currently holds a $529 million gross worldwide, on a $180 million budget.

The series’ longevity likely stems from two factors. First, and most obviously, the original Jurassic Park is still widely beloved as one of the best blockbusters of its generation, and it still holds a special place in the hearts of children who grew up seeing it in theaters. Even if none of the sequels have captured its magic, the inherent joy of witnessing the brachiosaurus appear as John Williams’ score swells means they’re willing to forgive a lot. Second, kids love dinosaurs to a degree that should never be underestimated. Family audiences played a significant role in helping the box office rebound post-COVID, and they undoubtedly made up a substantial segment of the audience for Rebirth.

‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Is a Box-Office Success, But Is It a Hit?

Yet despite the already-clear box-office success of Jurassic World Rebirth, it does come with a couple of caveats. To begin with, it’s following on the heels of a trilogy where each installment grossed over $1 billion worldwide, and while $529 million to date isn’t bad, it’s hard to see Rebirth meeting that benchmark at this rate. This weekend’s box-office returns, which Superman expectedly dominated, saw a 57% drop for Rebirth, leading to a current domestic total of $232 million. Again, it’s far from a flop, but it’s nowhere near the heights that most of the previous installments have hit.

Related

Yes, I Went to a 2-Hour ‘Jurassic World’ Movie To Watch a 70-Second Trailer, and It Was Worth It

The first teaser for Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ played before ‘Jurassic World Rebirth,’ and it’s worth the price of admission by itself.

It’s hard to imagine audiences staying enthusiastic enough for it to have strong legs for the rest of the month; it currently holds a “B” CinemaScore rating, the second-lowest in the series to date. For context, the first two Jurassic World installments each got an “A”, while Dominion got an “A-“. At the moment, it seems safe to predict that Superman will continue to dominate next week, before The Fantastic Four: First Steps inevitably takes over the conversation on July 25.

Will ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Do Well Enough for a Sequel?

But even despite these slightly lower-than-expected marks, and overall stronger box-office competition, it’s still clear that Jurassic Park remains a bankable franchise among mainstream audiences (Scarlett Johansson’s star power has also likely helped). Unlike Terminator, Transformers, and Fantastic Beasts, which all suffered high-profile box-office flops after losing goodwill, an installment as widely panned as Dominion evidently wasn’t enough to dampen viewers’ love of dinosaurs. As such, it’s almost guaranteed to recoup its budget, and another sequel seems inevitable.

Critics and naysayers may criticize the series all they want, but the financial receipts speak for themselves, and especially since it’s holding relatively steady in its second weekend, we can reasonably call Jurassic World Rebirth a box-office success. Jurassic World Rebirth is now playing in theaters.