“Jurassic World” is poised to cross $1 billion at the global box office more quickly than any film before it.
The dinosaur blockbuster should eclipse that mark on Monday after 13 days in theaters, trumping the record set earlier this year by “Furious 7,” which took 17 days to pass that barrier. Currently, the Universal release’s worldwide total sits at $981.3 million, after topping foreign charts this weekend with a $160.5 million haul from 66 territories.
“Jurassic World” now holds the record for the biggest opening in movie history.
The final numbers are still being tallied, but the dinosaur thriller has inched past “Marvel’s The Avengers” to become top dog, with a debut of roughly $209 million, according to insiders. The superhero blockbuster was the previous record holder with a $207.4 million bow. Universal initially estimated that “Jurassic World” would open to $204.6 million, but the adventure film had a stronger than anticipated Sunday.
It had some stiff competition for audience attention on Sunday night — both Game 5 of the NBA Finals and the season finale of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” generated a great deal of buzz that could have cut into ticket sales. Box office analysts say that moviegoers may have opted to check out the film on Sunday after hearing about its monster opening in order to be part of the conversation.
9th UPDATE, Monday 7:51 AM: Early morning estimates show that we have a new box office champion with Jurassic World, besting The Avengers’ $207.4M from 2012. By all accounts this AM, the Dinosaurs stomped in with a $209M three-day opening, others have it just slightly lower, but they definitely took the crown. Congrats to Universal and what a wild ride it has been.
SMASHING records left and right. Local AND Global records. Wonder if it can hit $210 million still?
