Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion began early offshore rollout today and is off to a stomping good start in Korea with $6M. This is the fourth biggest opening day of all time in the market — topped only by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Avengers: Endgame, and local title Along With The Gods 2 — and is the highest opening day of the pandemic there. The release pattern on JW:D differs from that of Fallen Kingdom which debuted in 48 overseas markets in 2018, but is similarly also before domestic which this time around goes June 10.
Further benchmarks for the Colin Trevorrow-directed threequel in Korea include the 2nd best Universal launch day ever and the No. 1 Election Day debut ever.
After giving Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home a hero’s welcome back in December, Korea fell back into the Covid doldrums and then suddenly began springing back to life recently with Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness and local title The Roundup. It is a key market and the industry is glad to have it back. (Note that Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick has not yet released in the big Tom Cruise hub, it goes on June 23 there.)
In total this weekend, Dominion will bow in 15 international box office markets. Along with Korea, majors include Mexico, Brazil and Italy. The Chris Pratt/Bryce Dallas Howard-starrer is eyeing a $45M+ start from the early play.
In like-for-likes, the previous two movies did $47.3M (2015’s Jurassic World, including previews) and $59.8M (2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, including previews).
The third installment takes place four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar as dinosaurs now live — and hunt — alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures in a new era.
Along with Pratt and Howard, Daniella Pineda, Justice Smith and Omar Sy, are back. Amping up the nostalgia factor, returning to the franchise are legacy Jurassic Park stars Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and BD Wong.
Howard and Goldblum introed footage at CinemaCon in April which showed Goldblum, Dern, Neill, Pratt and Howard’s characters as they search for the kidnapped baby of raptor Blue while massive dinosaurs wreak destruction on land and sea. In the footage we saw, Dern’s Ellie Sattler, says, “If our world is going to survive, what matters is what we do now.”
As for the full rollout plans this weekend, Korea is bowing on 2,100 screens including IMAX (this is the only market where IMAX factors this weekend since Top Gun: Maverick has those screens elsewhere and is not yet in Korea). The strategy for Uni was to get in and capitalize on the June 1 public holiday which leads into the long weekend ending with Memorial Day on Monday June 6.
Mexico opens tomorrow across 3,000 screens. This is a big family market and JW:D has two weeks before Disney/Pixar’s Lightyear releases. Likewise, Brazil is another big family market and will go out Thursday on 1,650 screens which is 20% more than Fallen Kingdom. Hong Kong also bows Thursday, just ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival public holiday, and Italy — the first Euro market to get its talons in — will have JW:D on 650 screens from Thursday to capitalize on the national Republic Day holiday.
Additional opening markets this session are Central America, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela.
Next week, JW:D adds 44 offshore markets which include China where the franchise has been successful, and just as Shanghai has begun to lift restrictions after an extended lockdown.