The DNA in this new round of dinosaurs is so good that it’s leading Universal/Amblin’s Jurassic World Rebirth to a higher worldwide opening than previously reported, that being $322.5M worldwide (instead of $318M+) with $147.8M domestic over five days and $174.7M foreign take. As we already told you, it’s the second-biggest opening for a Jurassic movie in the franchise behind 2015’s Jurassic World with $525.5M.
Through 10 days, 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion had a $386M global take, after a first weekend foreign platform and second-weekend global expansion. That Jurassic wound up at $376.8M domestic and $1 billion worldwide, so it gives you an idea of where this Gareth Edwards rendition is going. Note Dominion had $157.6M unadjusted from China. This one is off to a phenom start for an MPA title in the Middle Kingdom with the highest bow YTD at $41.6M. Edwards’ highest-grossing movie remains Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with $1.05 billion, followed by Legendary/Warner Bros’ Godzilla with $525M. Uni’s dinos easily will slaughter the latter.
Yes, the dinosaurs are the stars, and they’re front and center in the outdoor campaign chasing rubber rafts and standing behind the protags. But this sequel further set itself apart with its never-before-seen action involving lizards and a new cast of characters; interestingly enough, another Marvel Cinematic Universe thespian (a la Chris Pratt before) in Scarlett Johansson. That means something, and the 3-day domestic here of $92M is higher than the actress’ $80.3M opening for 2021’s Black Widow (that pic’s theatrical weekend siphoned by a paid day-and-date avail in homes on Disney+). While we’ve dinged the whole notion of girl-with-a gun movies and how audiences have had their fill of them (read, Ballerina with only $57.2M domestic, near $108M WW), Jurassic World Rebirth clearly was sold on that image of the 2x Oscar nominee — but with dinosaurs. That makes all the difference.
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Again, the anomaly here is that Uni got to change up the cast and characters in a way that other franchises can’t get away with (you can argue Star Wars Episodes 7-9 to a degree, but the old guard’s still hanging around). There’s a lot of superheroes in space, but when it comes to dinosaur franchises, there’s really only one.
Jurassic movies have a similar complexion: A Jurassic fan is a summer movie fan. The series pulls in families (41% turnout) and a big Latino and Hispanic audience at 26%. The studio had to make sure those crowds still showed up.
Uni has a unicorn in Jurassic in that there isn’t a fierce tribalism like other movie fanships. The studio intentionally teases everything they put out. Even though it’s a monster movie, Jurassic can butt up against other horror movies given the dino halo that surrounds it.
It’s a big Universal movie, so it gets shot out of a canon through NBCUniversal’s Symphony program across the conglom’s verticals. Some of those cross-pushes included a TODAY Show takeover during the week of June 22. Also on Peacock and in 80 international markets there was the special, Jurassic World Rebirth: The Making of a New Era, which dropped on July 1. There was a co-branded spot for the US Open, co-promo for Peacock’s Twisted Metal, and an episode takeover of America’s Got Talent. The cute dino Aquilops Dolores did some meet and greats at Universal theme parks and at NBCUni HQ 30 Rock.
Universal began the campaign for Jurassic World Rebirth last August with a title reveal across the Jurassic World socials set to notes from John Williams’ score. That stunt notched 12 million-plus views with fans quickly noticing that the series was turning a new leaf. As we previously reported, RelishMix measured the social media universe before opening on Jurassic World Rebirth at 921 million across YouTube, TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram, which was higher than Jurassic World Dominion‘s 780.4M by +18%.
Around Super Bowl time, there were TikTok teases and a first look of the film, leading to the first trailer and Big Game spot. A second trailer dropped in May timed to tickets going on sale. The trailer ran on such tentpoles as Captain America: Brave New World, A Minecraft Movie, Sinners, Thunderbolts*, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning and How To Train Your Dragon. Before opening, all Jurassic World Rebirth trailers had pulled in over a half billion around the world.
Among the linear pushes there was an NBA integration featuring MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander which reached 60 million viewers across every game in Round 1 of the NBA playoffs as well as spots in every game in the Finals series.
Spots also ran across WNBA, NCAA March Madness, MLB, WWE, FIFA Club World Cup, the Stanley Cup Finals and Wimbledon. They also aired around such big TV and streaming events like The Bear Season 4, Macy’s 4th of July Spectacular and finales of The Masked Singer, Tracker, Abbott Elementary, Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol, Suits: LA, The Voice, America’s Got Talent, The Walking Dead: Dead City, and Welcome to Wrexham. Johansson hosted the finale of SNL‘s 50th season on May 17.
Social media influencers, north of 155 of ’em, with a reach of 347M followers including Straw Hat Goofy, Marc Sebastian and Alexis Ruiz went to the Uni lot in California for an exclusive screening of the film and experiential afterparty. On Monday June 23, Jurassic World Rebirth was the Monday Mystery Movie across 35 exhibition partners including AMC, Regal and Cinemark. This was followed by 4DX screenings on June 24. That money, by the way, was rolled into the first day gross of $30.5M in addition to screenings that started at 12:01AM (we did tell you that Rebirth didn’t have any domestic Tuesday previews on July 1).
As we previously reported, the promo partner campaign which was valued at $150M in media included such brands as Jeep, M&Ms, Quaker Chewy bars, Dr. Pepper, and Johannsson’s skincare brand, Outset. The franchise was built going back to 1993 on cross-promo and free publicity.
In foreign markets, Jurassic World Rebirth cast made a pit stop before 2,000 fans at CCXP Mexico.
Talent also stopped in London, Berlin, France, NYC, Shanghai and Seoul. In terms of stunts abroad, there was a massive 3D T-Rex head loomed over the new restaurant in Seongsu from June 18-30. It is the first sculpture installed at the building, seen by expected 3.4 million visitors. Jurassic World Rebirth posted a Korean debut of $7.4M
There were also five giant posters wrapped around the Stade de France during Beyoncé’s record-breaking sold-out tour stop and the Top 14 Rugby Final; the stunt alone estimated to have generated 10 million impressions over the month. The dinos stomped out $6.9M in France.
Also, a final note to those throwing rocks up at our analysis: If CinemaScore didn’t serve a purpose, the studios wouldn’t use it. Granted, the audience exit firm polls a narrow 4-5 theaters, not to mention a Wednesday night audience is completely different from a Friday or Saturday night one (Um, Warner Bros’ Entourage movie which bombed with a $10.2M 3-day, $17.6M 5-day did get an A- on its opening Wednesday). Still, it’s an audience temperature check using a school grading system on a subset at that point in time. If it’s a good grade, then CinemaScore does get used as a promotional tool sometimes, read studios will pay the pollster extra for use of their grade in a TV or outdoor campaign. There was a time pre-Covid when grades were correlated to a multiple of box office income, i.e. an A grade could get you a 3.5 to 4x opening to final box office outcome. No doubt, post Covid times have changed that metric, and we’re in need of a dust-up on a study we previously did on CinemaScore’s resonance. But last I checked, F films like Mother!, D+ movies like Borderlands, C- movies like Hurry Up Tomorrow and Wolf Man, didn’t do so well at the box office. Yes, an A- for Ballerina and B+ for M3GAN 2.0 means only the fans showed up, and nobody else. And yes, ‘B’ movies can make a ton of cash: 2016’s Suicide Squad with a B+ still holds the record for the biggest opening in August at the domestic box office with $133.6M and $325.1M stateside.
PostTrak polls 1,000 throughout the weekend and provides a very deep lined insight in terms of demos and multitude of categories. Studios consider it rich, not irrelevant by any means, for all the data they can comb, and it gives them insight into their audience. These MBA and JD equipped executives aren’t stupid. The reports assist them in making decisions and determining comps. If it wasn’t for the two audience exit agencies, what else would Hollywood use?
