TheJurassic Worldfranchise registered another box office victory withJurassic World Rebirthin July, once again proving that there appears to be no end in sight for the 32-year-old dinosaur-centric franchise. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali,Jurassic World Rebirthacted as a soft reboot for the franchise, introducing a fresh cast and new narrative.
Rebirthbrought the franchise back to its more streamlined story roots, focusing on two small groups trapped on an island full of dangerous dinosaurs andpowerful mutant hybridsinstead of the globe-spanning action adventure narrative that the previousJurassic Worldtrilogy evolved into.
That return to the franchise’s roots made up some ground with critics after the abysmal Rotten Tomatoes scores of the series' last two entries, but in reality critics' opinions have never had an impact on the success of theJurassic Park/Jurassic Worldfranchise. As long as the movies include plenty of dinosaur screen time, audiences are on board to check them out on the big screen.
TheJurassic Worldtrilogy immediately returned to the “park” concept before eventually going so far down the nostalgia rabbit hole as to bring back the original movie’s cast. That meant thatRebirth’s setup with no park, a new island, a new cast, and only the vaguest remnants of plot baggage from its predecessors was a legitimate risk for the franchise’s future if it didn’t work.
Jurassic World Rebirth Is Another Huge Box Office Hit For The Franchise
Universal Pictures' proverbial roll of the dice withJurassic World Rebirthcertainly paid off, as the summer blockbuster was a huge box office success, just as the entireJurassic Worldtrilogy was.Currently sitting at well beyond $740 million after less than a month in theaters,Jurassic World Rebirthcould still threaten $1 billion at the global box officedepending on its legs.
Even if it left theaters today, it would be considered a financial success, given that its lower budget (low for theJurassic Worldfranchise, at least) means it needs to hit a much lower benchmark for profitability.Jurassic World Rebirthneeded to churn out at least $500-$550 million at the box office to turn a real profit, and it blew well past that mark in just a few weeks.
1993
$63 million
$1.058 billion
91%
1997
$73 million
$618.6 million
53%
52%
2001
$93 million
$368.8 million
49%
37%
2015
$150-$215 million
$1.671 billion
72%
78%
2018
$432 million
$1.31 billion
47%
48%
2022
$265 million
$1.004 billion
29%
77%
2025
$180-$225 million
$741.1 million
51%
71%
The movie’s strong opening was certainly buoyed by positive early reviews from both critics and moviegoers. Even if the actual critical consensus settled much lower than what one would normally consider good, the bar was so low afterJurassic World: Dominionthat any word of mouth declaringRebirth"watchable" or better was enough to send people to the theaters.
Jurassic Movies Will Keep Coming As Long As Audiences Want Them
If something as experimental in structure asJurassic World Rebirthis still able to churn out $800-$900 million in a summer in which it goes head-to-head withF1: The Movie,SupermanandThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, then the dinosaurs will simply never die. It’s
As long as Universal can stomach the initial budget and turn a legitimate profit, then writers will find a way to keep sending people toislands loaded with dinosaurs and genetic experiments. The concept simply works for audiences, even if it is in a “turn your brain off and enjoy” sort of fashion. Like any average grade-schooler, people are still fascinated by real dinosaurs.
The appetite simply hasn’t faded, and likely won’t any time soon. Universal smartly put the dinos on ice after the train wreck ofJurassic Park III, but all that time off did was create more interest in the franchise. TheJurassic Worldtrilogy, as over-wrought as it wound up,simplified the formula into “dinosaurs + bankable action star = box office success”.
Jurassic World Rebirthbasically put that formula to the test, swapping out Chris Pratt forfranchise cornerstone-level veteran Scarlett Johanssonand putting some new dinosaurs into the mix in a fresh yet familiar setting. It all but proved that people will still show up for theJurassic Worldfranchise no matter what happens.
By the end ofJurassic World Rebirth’s box office run, it’s likely that it will have cracked the top 10 highest-grossing movie franchises of all time, with well over $2.2 billion to its credit. With profitability at that level,Universal would almost be silly NOT to wring the sponge until it’s dry, and that’s what the franchise’s future holds.
We will continue to getJurassic Worldmovies until they stop making massive profits. That’s simply the nature of the business in this day and age, andJurassic World Rebirthstands as the latest example of why the franchise isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
