Mexico proved the hero nation for Universal’s release of Jurassic World Dominion – the third film in the World series, and the sixth Jurassic film overall. An estimated $18.1m in Mexico provided nearly one third of the $55.5m weekend total from 15 early international markets, which also included South Korea, Brazil and Italy.
Overall, the $55.5m debut was in line (+1%) with the openings of the two earlier Jurassic World films in the same suite of markets, excluding previews. Those two films went on to achieve final tallies of $1.67bn (Jurassic World, 2015) and $1.31bn (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, 2018). We might expect to see a further drop with the third World film, but the inclusion of Jurassic Park actors Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, joining World stars such as Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, may serve to give the new film a bigger box office punch.
In Mexico, Dominion delivered the biggest ever opening for Universal, and accounted for an 83% market share in the territory. The film also achieved the third biggest opening of the pandemic in Mexico, beaten only by Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness – and it similarly achieved the third biggest opening of the pandemic (for a US film) in South Korea, thanks to an estimated $15.1m debut, including previews. (For the three-day weekend, South Korea was led by local chart champ The Roundup, which added another $10.4m, for a total north of $60m.)
In Brazil, an estimated $4.4m for Dominion represented Universal’s biggest pandemic opening. The debut number is just behind Jurassic World, but ahead of Fallen Kingdom as well as current hit Top Gun: Maverick.
Italy’s $3.4m likewise ranks as Universal’s biggest pandemic opening. Saturday’s overall market in Italy was soft thanks to the Italy-Germany Nations League football match which recorded 5.8m viewers in the country – but despite this the opening box office was just below Fallen Kingdom and ahead of Top Gun: Maverick.
Jurassic World Dominion faces its full market test when it lands in North America this Friday, as well as a wide sweep of international territories this week including China, UK/Ireland, France, Germany, Australia and India.
