Jurassic World: Dominion’s opening weekend tracking sinks to the lowest of the new trilogy

Our box office predictions for Jurassic World: Dominion will be opening live tomorrow morning as we look at the film’s level of dominance heading into the weekend but if the film’s new box office tracking numbers are any indication, the film could be headed to the lowest debut of the new trilogy.

Jurassic World: Dominion’s box office tracking had been in the $205 million+ range just last month but it has dipped considerably after the early mixed responses emerged for the film yesterday. The full review embargo is up today and while the movie sits at 88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, that’s only with eight reviews counted after the foreign review embargo was lifted from the territories the film was released in prior to its North American launch this week. We compiled some of those early reactions just yesterday and if you explore Twitter a bit more, they have only gotten more mixed. Because of this, the tracking for the opening weekend has now dipped to a potential $125 million opening, per Deadline.

The return of the original cast from 1993’s Jurassic Park and this entry being the end of this particular trilogy, had expectations for this third outing pretty high. It really should be the nostalgia-filled extravaganza that brings fans young and old back to the theater, much like Top Gun: Maverick has done the last two weeks. The key difference is that Top Gun: Maverick generated great buzz ahead of its opening and it only stayed at towering heights once it opened wide.

For comparison’s sake, 2015’s Jurassic World had a roaring-good opening that brought the franchise back in a big way with a $208 million debut. A few years later, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom took a critical beating but still managed to open to $148 million. That’s a considerable dip but keep in mind, despite lukewarm reviews, Fallen Kingdom still managed to gross $1.3 billion but the end of its run worldwide. Even if that’s down from the $1.6 billion earned by its predecessor, it’s still an amazing showing.

These films appear to be review-proof overall and it’s destined to be a worldwide player at the end of the day but on the domestic front, it’s interesting that the opening tracking is taking a hit. If the tracking continues to be lukewarm, Top Gun: Maverick may not have much to worry about in terms of having another solid hold in its third weekend. Jurassic World: Dominion is going to rule this weekend but it’s not going to be the massacre that was originally believed. We’ll explore the film’s box office potential tomorrow when we post our box office predictions tomorrow.

What are YOUR thoughts on Jurassic World: Dominion’s opening weekend box office tracking taking a hit?