[Movie] Jurassic World 3: Dominion

[eschatological]

In the book, they were of similar age. I think the article is more about the Hollywood habit of casting young female leads to star opposite older leading men because of hotness reasons, not because the characters themselves were inappropriate. Laura Dern was 23 and her character was the co-leader of an archeological dig, which would require like, at least a master's degree if not a PhD.

FWIW, had no clue she was 23 in JP. I thought early to mid 30s just because of the expertise her character was portraying. And unlike, say, a Megan Fox, who was 20 in the first Transformers film, Laura Dern wasn't just some sexy sideplot.

[Vegas82]

In the book, they were of similar age. I think the article is more about the Hollywood habit of casting young female leads to star opposite older leading men because of hotness reasons, not because the characters themselves were inappropriate. Laura Dern was 23 and her character was the co-leader of an archeological dig, which would require like, at least a master's degree if not a PhD.

FWIW, had no clue she was 23 in JP. I thought early to mid 30s just because of the expertise her character was portraying. And unlike, say, a Megan Fox, who was 20 in the first Transformers film, Laura Dern wasn't just some sexy sideplot.

She was Dr. Statler. So PhD.

[eschatological]

yeah, I don't know the requirements for a PhD in archeobotany, but a lot of scientific disciplines require a masters first, and then a PhD which can go anywhere from 3-7 years. In the archeology field I'd bet it's on the longer side because I imagine your thesis involves actually digging shit up.

[Ihavewaffles]

In the book, they were of similar age. I think the article is more about the Hollywood habit of casting young female leads to star opposite older leading men because of hotness reasons

If anyone was expecting some 'hotness' factor would be in the movie, their reaction would be like kevin bacon's in tremors when he sees that seismologist lady..

[Aurrora]

In the book, they were of similar age. I think the article is more about the Hollywood habit of casting young female leads to star opposite older leading men because of hotness reasons, not because the characters themselves were inappropriate. Laura Dern was 23 and her character was the co-leader of an archeological dig, which would require like, at least a master's degree if not a PhD.

FWIW, had no clue she was 23 in JP. I thought early to mid 30s just because of the expertise her character was portraying. And unlike, say, a Megan Fox, who was 20 in the first Transformers film, Laura Dern wasn't just some sexy sideplot.

No they weren't, she was his student in the book.

[Koriani]

In the book, they were of similar age. I think the article is more about the Hollywood habit of casting young female leads to star opposite older leading men because of hotness reasons, not because the characters themselves were inappropriate. Laura Dern was 23 and her character was the co-leader of an archeological dig, which would require like, at least a master's degree if not a PhD.

FWIW, had no clue she was 23 in JP. I thought early to mid 30s just because of the expertise her character was portraying. And unlike, say, a Megan Fox, who was 20 in the first Transformers film, Laura Dern wasn't just some sexy sideplot.

What I find interesting...entertaining...amusing (not sure the word here - lol) -

This also doesn't even get into the extra layer added when you start looking at ACTUAL ages of actors/actresses, the ages of their characters, and whatever relationships on top of that. Hubby has made a game of "Guess how Old they are vs. their characters!" in tv shows/movies because of how wildly discrepant this 'image' is when compared to reality. You have 30somethings (and older!) cast as 18-22 year olds, in relationships with 40+year old characters played by 50-70 year olds. You have 40+ year olds playing people in their 60s+. Not every show and movie does this, obviously, and you're more likely to see the 'huge age gap' between character and actor age the younger the character gets; but still the commonality of these crazy visual standards is remarkable. And the expectation of (for example) a 35 year old actor to be able to, with some makeup on their face, their whole bodies to either look 20 or 65 - is nuts, and unhealthy.

Many of us have had the 'age shock' of learning that the characters in the popular 80s sitcom "Golden Girls" were (per the writers/script) supposedly characters in their upper 40s/early 50s - when everyone in the real world looks at those characters and sees women at LEAST 65+ years old, not 48. Its disturbing (at least to me) to realize that "Hollywood", at that particular time, was looking at women who were 48 and considering them the equivalent of a 70+ year old. That, at least in SOME aspects, has certainly improved in the intervening decades - but there's still a long way to go.

Hollwood's age 'norms' are nothing healthy or realistic, no matter what age group you're looking at - and casting younger women/older men together is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg here. A casting that isn't even, necessarily, inappropriate - because there are tons of people in healthy, supportive, loving romantic relationships with people 20+ years apart from each other. (So implying that its 'always wrong' or arguing from that standpoint, isn't at all correct, either.)

I'd just like to see actors playing characters at least in the same 'age decade' - and let THAT be the real norm and expectation for the business. Maybe one day! =D

[Darththeo]

In the book, they were of similar age. I think the article is more about the Hollywood habit of casting young female leads to star opposite older leading men because of hotness reasons, not because the characters themselves were inappropriate. Laura Dern was 23 and her character was the co-leader of an archeological dig, which would require like, at least a master's degree if not a PhD.

FWIW, had no clue she was 23 in JP. I thought early to mid 30s just because of the expertise her character was portraying. And unlike, say, a Megan Fox, who was 20 in the first Transformers film, Laura Dern wasn't just some sexy sideplot.

Ellie is 24 in the Novel.
Grant is at least 10 years older. Maybe more, I think it was mid30s, but could have been 40s.

Ellie is grad student in the Novel. Grant is her professor.

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No they weren't, she was his student in the book.

Yep. Also, the novel did not have any "hint" of romance between the two if I remember correctly. At least on Ellie's part.

However, if it was there, it does oddly fit one of the inspirations for Grant being Horner.

[Ihavewaffles]

Jurassic Park & World Movies Are All Box Office Hits, Despite Bad Reviews.

https://screenrant.com/jurassic-park...ccess-reviews/
BY STEPHEN M. COLBERT - 11 HOURS AGO

The Jurassic Park franchise is one of the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time, even though the movies don't always get the greatest reviews. With Jurassic World Dominion set to deliver an Avengers: Endgame style finale to the story established in the Jurassic movies so far, it should continue this trend of box office success, even if it doesn't see critical acclaim.

With total box office earnings of nearly $5 billion, the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies have been a Hollywood mainstay, with five movies spanning from Jurassic Park in 1993 to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in 2018 (with the sixth movie, Jurassic World Dominion, arriving June 9th). There may not be as many Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies as there are in newer powerhouse franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the franchise's five releases show remarkable reliability, averaging just under $1 billion each.

While movies that perform higher at the box office also tend to see a solid critical reception and high scores in review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes, that's not the case for every Jurassic Park movie. In fact, only a few movies in the franchise have seen an overall positive critical reception or Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, but that's never resulted in a significant impact on the franchise's box office draw.

The original Jurassic Park is one of the most iconic movies ever made, and with a 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, it's also still the best-reviewed movie in the franchise. Neither The Lost World: Jurassic Park nor Jurassic Park III garnered a Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, and the soft-reboot of Jurassic World saw much more positive reviews, earning a Fresh 71 percent, but it still wasn't up to the same level as Jurassic Park. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom saw the most divided reviews in the franchise at 47 percent.

When it comes to Jurassic Park's box office performance, the movie's original run earned $879 million, making it the highest-grossing movie in history at the time, also pushing the 1993 box office to an all-time record. In 2022 dollars, Jurassic Park's $870 million translates to $1.74 billion (which would make it the seventh highest-grossing movie of all time if box office were calculated that way). In addition to its original release, Jurassic Park received several re-releases, including a big 3D re-release in 2013 that officially pushed it past the billion-dollar mark to where it stands today at just under $1.1 billion.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III were far more negatively reviewed than Jurassic Park, and while their box office was also reduced, they were still relatively big hits for their time. The Lost World: Jurassic Park only has a 53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but it still earned $618 million in 1997 (equivalent to $1.1 billion after adjusting for inflation), enough to make it the second highest-grossing film that year, second to Titanic (which still stands as the third-highest grossing movie of all time).

Jurassic Park III saw even harsher reviews than The Lost World: Jurassic Park, garnering a Rotten 48 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and an also-reduced box office haul of $368 million, which may seem like a total flop by today's standards; however, after adjusting for inflation, it's closer to $662 million in 2022 dollars, which would be seen as a disappointing but moderate success. Even so, it's still the lowest-grossing movie in the franchise.

The Jurassic Park sequels saw progressively worse reviews with steadily declining box office performance, but with budgets of $73 million and $93 million, respectively, they kept the franchise in the red, which is clearly a big reason for the eventual return with the Jurassic World movies, which would help revert that slump.

Despite the franchise slump of The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, the franchise came roaring back to life with Jurassic World in 2015. The movie saw a positive 71 percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes, which is good enough to be the second-highest review score in the franchise, although with Jurassic Park being the only other movie to even get a Fresh score, the competition for second place was slim.

Along with the positive reviews came box office gold. Jurassic World had a record-setting opening weekend and quickly became the fastest movie to break the $1 billion mark at the global box office, leading to a total box office run of $1.67 billion. With a moderate budget of just $150 million (compared to the $200+ million of many other box office hits), Jurassic World also brought a hefty profit margin, proving there's still a lot of potential in the Jurassic Park franchise.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom reviews were far more negative than Jurassic World, leading to a franchise-low Rotten Tomatoes score of 47 percent, but that didn't slow it down at the box office, as the movie went on to gross $1.3 billion worldwide. Like the Jurassic Park sequels, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was a box office success despite poor reviews, although clearly, it would have performed better if it had been better reviewed.

Whether it's from coasting off the iconic status, critical acclaim, and financial success of the original, or simply the fact that audiences love dinosaurs, the Jurassic Park franchise has maintained its status as one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood even though most of the movies have been pretty harshly panned by critics. Similar to the Transformers movies or the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, their box office wasn't diminished by poor reviews, largely due to those franchises cornering the market on their respective genres, although both of those franchises lack a standout critical success on the same level as the original Jurassic Park.

As the biggest movie in the Jurassic Park/World franchise yet, Jurassic World Dominion has a lot on its shoulders, especially with the return of classic Jurassic Park characters like Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). Hopes are obviously high that the movie can recapture more of the franchise's original critical glory, but based on the franchise's history, it'll still see a solid box office performance even if critics don't love it.

[Ophenia]

That looked more like a 150-min interview with the original cast than a Jurassic World movie.

absolute 0 screen time for Blue and very small for Beta who just exists at a side quest objective, most dinosaurs are thrown for a 2-seconds scene being overall useless and pretty much doing the same (sniffing people for 30 seconds, then being prevented from snapping by whichever deus ex machina)… and the biggest offense ? The « main threat » is locusts. M’okay.

I was hoping that the ending of the previous opus would be continued in Dominion, witnessing the dinosaurs in our world. That lasted for a good 2 minutes before we went back to the usual story

If you’re a fan of the original cast I suppose you’ll enjoy that movie. If you wanted a blockbuster involving dinosaurs, well sorry

[Darththeo]

Worst Jurassic World movie by a mile and a half. Arguably one of the worse movies in the franchise.

I just don't even know where to begin with the crap.

So, part of the plot relies on Malcolm being employed with Biosyn. This makes absolutely no sense on many levels. Malcolm is in all the movies he appears in 100% opposed to the genetic power displayed as it is. Ian Malcolm would not be hired at Biosyn under any circumstances. Also, Dodgson just having Grant and Satler both of whom also spoke out against this kind of thing in the past also makes no sense. It makes no sense that Dodgson would allow them to walk around supervised by one person, regardless of how much he may trust said person. Dodgson just looks stupid with these decisions.

Dodgson was worried about being found out about the locusts, that basically anyone could figure out didn't eat Biosyn seed. Given the level of real world conspiracy theorist out there. It would be expected by everyone and given it has more solid evidence than pretty much all conspiracy theories. He 100% should have been immediately on board with Wu's plan to exterminate them if he actually cared about hiding what he did.

And Wu. He is given a half assed redemption arc. Like we are supposed to forget he was working to improve a genetically modified weapon 4 years ago. And his redemption arc just feels so freaking forced.

Also, Claire's opening? Completely unneeded. It was nice seeing Zia in Claire's and Franklin was only in the movie to help point Claire and Owen in the right direction and explain why he is where he is. Owen's opening was only need to explain how the people found where they were. It could have been done with Maisie's opening. Have them see her in town and follow her to the cabin. So much of the opening could have been cut down and trimmed to be better.

Ramsay. They obviously sold that he was someone who was trying to take down Biosyn way too hard. Like stupidly hard. They might as well have put a neon sign over him saying. I AM A BIOSYN WHISTLEBLOWER. Also, his last scene with Dodgson was just dumb. Why would he do that? It added nothing to the movie except have Ramsay inflate his own ego.

The new dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures were just for show for the most part. The Giga's role could have just been a Rex. The big fight between Rexy and Giga at the end felt forced. Like I just don't care about it. If they were going to do Rexy vs a big predator, should have just brought back the Spinosaurus. At least then I would have felt something when it was killed, unlike the Giga. The additional raptor species could have just been other velociraptors, but you had Pyroraptor (The Feathered one) and Atrociraptor using the Indoraptor stuff.

And holy crap did the plot armor of the main cast feel extremely obvious at times in the movie. I wasn't really expecting them to die, but like outside of minor stuff. Everyone was fine.

In short: I do not recommend unless you absolutely have to see how the series ends.

[Ihavewaffles]

Uhm, there's dinos in movie? They go "rawr! rawr!" ?

I need a story, why

[Ophenia]

The new dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures were just for show for the most part. The Giga's role could have just been a Rex. The big fight between Rexy and Giga at the end felt forced. Like I just don't care about it. If they were going to do Rexy vs a big predator, should have just brought back the Spinosaurus. At least then I would have felt something when it was killed, unlike the Giga. The additional raptor species could have just been other velociraptors, but you had Pyroraptor (The Feathered one) and Atrociraptor using the Indoraptor stuff.

Hehe that end scene where basically the lockdown plan in case of catastrophe was to group all the dinos of that sanctuary inside a very small area, mixing the predators and the preys ? What could go wrong amirite ? How stupid such a lockdown plan is

And yeah that "fight"... With the apex predator dying ... impaled on the claws of a vegan dino who wasn't even trying
(I'm no dino expert so I'm not sure if he's supposed to be a herbivore or carnivorous type, but he was shown eating leaves when he was introduced ?)

[Darththeo]

Hehe that end scene where basically the lockdown plan in case of catastrophe was to group all the dinos of that sanctuary inside a very small area, mixing the predators and the preys ? What could go wrong amirite ? How stupid such a lockdown plan is

And yeah that "fight"... With the apex predator dying ... impaled on the claws of a vegan dino who wasn't even trying
(I'm no dino expert so I'm not sure if he's supposed to be a herbivore or carnivorous type, but he was shown eating leaves when he was introduced ?)

Yes, that Dino is a herbivore. I nearly screamed out when it killed the deer earlier in the movie. Why would it do that? It is a herbivore!

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Uhm, there's dinos in movie? They go "rawr! rawr!" ?

I need a story, why

Because the other Jurassic movies had stories. Even JP3 story makes more sense than this one.

[Ihavewaffles]

After Spielberg's shitty sequel, I gave up hope, so when jp3 came along, I wasn't even mad. I just want dinos, big drink n popcorn now.

I love jp1, but its just a bunch of "what if this tech gets out, n dinos on the loose?" It never showed what would happen to the world n there's not much of any source material on the matter, so all they can do after jp1 is "big scary dinos, run!"

It's so much easier to ask "what if?" n don't show, well, what... jp1 sets the easy part, n then what after?

Would be easier if they tried to do smaller stories, like episodes, a tv show rather than trying to cram everything into a movie..
Battle of big rock, or camp cretaceous is way better than this movie..

[Dread Pirate Phayde]

Hard to believe this could be worse than Fallen Kingdom, but it sounds like they succeeded. Didn't have much interest after that one, reading the above comments definitely cements that.

[Darththeo]

Hard to believe this could be worse than Fallen Kingdom, but it sounds like they succeeded. Didn't have much interest after that one, reading the above comments definitely cements that.

I honestly had hopes for this movie. But, this movie just had me going "WHAT? WHY?" so many times. For me a sin for a movie is talking me out of the movie because things stop being internally consistent. There were just many scenes that took me out of the movie.

[Ophenia]

Hard to believe this could be worse than Fallen Kingdom, but it sounds like they succeeded. Didn't have much interest after that one, reading the above comments definitely cements that.

Well the main problem is that Dinos are background noise in this movie. You're only supposed to care about the casting - and not even the current one, but the original ones.
Movie started correctly - showing the aftermath of freeing the dinos, but then this problem was quickly solved/avoided to revolve around the original cast doing things and piling one-liners jokes on top of one-liners sarcasm

What's really taking me out of those movie is the total inability from the dinos to kill anyone as well. During this movie they've tried to introduce us to a variety of different dinos that the characters were obviously terribly afraid of, just for said dinos to be terribly incompetent in feeding themselves, no wonder why they went extinct, and then they just disappear into the void to never ever be heard about anymore.

This movie had potential if it had continued the story it tried to tell - dinosaurs' integration in modern world and its heavy impacts, instead of quickly forgetting about that issue and go full 180deg and go back to "oh noes, Dinosaurs are having troubles in this protected sanctuary for the billionth time", but this time you only care about Starlord and Gamora, sorry Claire, trying to save their "daughter" while to OG cast collected their paycheck.

Same goes for the "main threat" of the movie (DNA-engineered locust swarm). I could have bought it if that had something to do with dinosaurs roaming the earth, but no, evil scientist go brrr.

[Darththeo]

Well the main problem is that Dinos are background noise in this movie. You're only supposed to care about the casting - and not even the current one, but the original ones.

100% agree. A lot of scenes with dinosaurs are literally just Dinosaurs as window dressing or "Look, there is a dinosaur here!" It reminds me of Malcolm's quote in the first movie on the tour.

What's really taking me out of those movie is the total inability from the dinos to kill anyone as well. During this movie they've tried to introduce us to a variety of different dinos that the characters were obviously terribly afraid of, just for said dinos to be terribly incompetent in feeding themselves, no wonder why they went extinct, and then they just disappear into the void to never ever be heard about anymore.

That totally annoyed me too. For a moment I was like Holy crap, are they going to kill off Malcolm here? And then somehow he manages to survive. Grant at his age is totally able to grab his hand like nothing. That Giga scene should have had a death.

This movie had potential if it had continued the story it tried to tell - dinosaurs' integration in modern world and its heavy impacts, instead of quickly forgetting about that issue and go full 180deg and go back to "oh noes, Dinosaurs are having troubles in this protected sanctuary for the billionth time", but this time you only care about Starlord and Gamora, sorry Claire, trying to save their "daughter" while to OG cast collected their paycheck.

Same goes for the "main threat" of the movie (DNA-engineered locust swarm). I could have bought it if that had something to do with dinosaurs roaming the earth, but no, evil scientist go brrr.

I would love if it kept that plot, but yeah, I agree. I think the human antagonists are the weakest thing in the series, but this movie just makes me feel that Dodgson is a lamer version of characters we have seen in the movies before.

[Ihavewaffles]

Wow, what happened? This the same director that made jw1? Doesn't seem like it, like a first-timer, like a fan fiction.. this idea not to make hybrids n go beyond was a mistake, and the locust swarm instead of that?.. Too obvious all blame would go to biosyn, as if the world's armies wouldn't knock down his door...it was a mistake to listen to all the people who complained about jw1 hybrids, you got big ugly insects instead, I hope you are happy!!

It's really not hyperbole to say this is the worst jp/jw movie ever, it was a mess from start to finish...dinos roaring for over 2 hours straight it felt like. The worst experience was the sound, it was like a hammer and my ears were the anvil...anyone else felt like that? I can't remember any score, just an assault on me ears, like a machine gun not stopping..and the sound effects amped up too much, like a knife in the ear..wtf how did that go through sound editing...uh, it did go through editing, right??

I went into this thinking worse than jw1, better than jw2, jp3, nope...it was like...watching an un-edited movie, that wasn't cut at all, they just...took this huge pile n called it a movie.

I didn't feel like I was looking at alan grant, his voice was all wrong, like he struggled with acting n relearning how to talk like him...awkward to look at.

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Oh my lawd...one of the writers is from pacific rim 2...that explains a lot, but not why they would give opportunity to someone like that...

I can't believe they made me look forward to camp cretaceous more than the movie..


I made the first post of this thread in 2019...it baffles me how many threads I make for stuff I look forward to turn out so bad...is there some pandemic in hollywood that affects their intelligence? Or is corporate in so much control we only get so much crap?...

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[Ihavewaffles]

Jurassic World Dominion Conquers The Box Office Despite Franchise Low Reviews.

https://gamerant.com/jurassic-world-...ening-weekend/
KARL ANTHONY SIMPSON JR. - 5 HOURS AGO

Jurassic World Dominion officially roared into theaters this past weekend and ended its premiere three-day slate atop the domestic box office, dethroning Paramount's Top Gun: Maverick from the illustrious seat. The final offering from the Jurassic World franchise generated $143.37 million domestically.

The Universal and Amblin film stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, reprising their established roles from the first two films. Jurassic World Dominion is set four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, which has created an environment where dinosaurs and humans must live alongside one another all across the world. Many fans of the beloved franchise were excited about the film's synopsis, but the biggest selling point for many was the official return of the iconic Jurassic Park trio.

It had been roughly 29 years since Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill shared the screen, which motivated various demographics to experience the film over the weekend. Per Deadline, Jurassic World Dominion hit the ground running for its Thursday previews, generating $18 million to end the night. The film saw a tremendous uptick on Friday, earning $56.7 million, which diminished slightly by the end of Saturday. After a solid $36.9 million Sunday performance, Jurassic World Dominion found itself atop the standings as the weekend domestic box office champion, accumulating $143.37 million.

The impressive domestic total is the seventh-best opening weekend performance of the year, coming in closely behind Tom Holland's Uncharted and finishing comfortably above Sandra Bullock's The Lost City. Despite the impressive debut, critics have not received the new Jurassic World film well. The film currently has a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the lowest-rated project of the entire Jurassic Park franchise. The audience score, however, sits at 79%, alongside the film's A- grade from CinemaScore, which speaks to the varied reception level the film is receiving.

The unwelcoming reviews could have significantly put a dent in the film's projected opening performance, but the nostalgia and curiosity for the Jurassic Park world were enough to attract viewers to form their own opinion about the new adventure. Top Gun: Maverick finished its third theatrical weekend in second place, generating $50 million, followed by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which earned $4.9 million. The Bob's Burgers Movie finished the weekend in fourth, reaching $2.33 million, followed by The Bad Guys to round out the top five, which took home $2.25 million.

Globally, Jurassic World Dominion has accumulated $389 million, assisted by the $245.8 million the project has generated internationally. It'll be interesting to see if the film can sustain its solid momentum or if the negative reviews and opinions surrounding the film will catch up and impact the film's progress. The film's second-weekend performance will say a lot about its trajectory, but for now, it can rest comfortably knowing it took home the weekend box office crown.



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‘Jurassic World Dominion’ $53 Million Opening Gives China Its Best Box Office Weekend in Three Months.

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/c...on-1235292156/
By Patrick Frater - Jun 12, 2022 8:51pm PT

A powerfully impressive opening by “Jurassic World Dominion” and a partial reopening of cinemas gave China its biggest box office weekend in more than three months.

The dinosaur franchise movie earned $53 million (RMB355 million) in three days in China, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. The film chewed off a massive 88% share of the total weekend market.

Its score is the best opening weekend of any film since the always exceptional Chinese New Year session at the beginning of February. It is also far and away the strongest opening by any Hollywood movie in 2022.

It compares with $9.7 million earned on opening by “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” $11.6 million earned by “The Batman” and the $7.5 million opening haul of “The Matrix: Resurrections.”

Large screen cinema company, Imax reported that $6.3 million or 12% of the film’s Chinese weekend total came from its screens. It was the biggest Imax opening of a Hollywood film in China since May 2021.

The numbers were helped by a pattern of reopening of some cinemas that had been closed during the recent wave of COVID outbreaks. However, the outlook for further cinema openings remains mixed. Shanghai’s cinemas were classified as “crowded places” and were not immediately allowed to join in the reopening of the city on June 1 following weeks of lockdown. Cinemas in some parts of Beijing were reopened, but that trend may be reversed if a case cluster identified as starting from the Sanlitun entertainment district in the city’s Chaoyang district grows further. Chaoyang residents must submit to weekly PCR testing until the end of July.

Tetchy political relations between China and the U.S. have rebounded on imported films this year, with many shut out from Chinese cinemas or given sub-par releasing conditions. There have been no releases of Marvel movies in China since 2019.

On the other hand, “Jurassic World Dominion” appeared to have the blessing of Chinese authorities. It was given plenty of time to prepare its marketing campaign and was widely praised in state-owned media as a nostalgic throwback to the franchise of old. Much coverage also sought to create connections between the film and China’s own fossils and dinosaur research.

Over the weekend, “My Blue Summer” took second place with a Friday-Sunday score of $2.7 million (RMB18.2 million). After two weekends on release, it has earned an aggregate $14.8 million (RMB99.3 million). “The Bad Guys” held on in third place with $2 million (RMB13.6 million) for a $43.1 million (RMB289 million) cumulative since April 29.

Artisan Gateway calculates that China’s aggregate box office for the year stands at $2.39 million, some 39% adrift of the total at this point last year.