Universal’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom easily dunked the competition in its second weekend, grossing $60 million in North America as it roars toward the $1 billion mark globally.
Overseas, the dinos devoured another $56.1 million from 68 markets for a foreign tally of $667.6 million — including $237 million in China — and a global haul of $932.4 million. The film will join the billion-dollar club sometime this week.
Jurassic World 2, however, continues trailing notably behind 2015’s Jurassic World, which finished its sophomore outing with a domestic total of $402.8 million after declining 49 percent. That compares to a decline of 59 percent for the sequel.
Nevertheless, the movie is a victory for both Universal and the summer box office, which closes out June on a high note, thanks in large measure to the combined strength of the dinos, Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2 and Incredibles 2. Revenue to date for the summer is up a sizable 15.3 percent over last year, while revenue year to date is pacing 9.3 percent ahead of the same period in 2018, according to comScore.
Incredibles 2, from Pixar and Disney, stayed at No. 2 in its third outing with $45.5 million for a domestic total of $439.7 million. The record-breaking animated film has now passed up Toy Story 3 ($415 million) to rank as the No. 2 Pixar title of all time domestically behind Finding Dory ($486.3 million), not adjusted for inflation. And Incredibles 2 is on the cusp of overtaking Shrek 2 to become the second-biggest animated film of all time in North America (again behind Finding Dory).
Overseas, the Pixar title earned another $44.3 million from 36 markets for a foreign total of $207.1 million and $646.8 million globally.
The weekend’s two new films in the U.S. were a pair of smaller titles hoping to serve as counterprogramming to tentpole fare, Sicario: Day of the Soldado and Uncle Drew. Both skewed heavily male.
Sicario 2, a follow-up to Denis Villeneuve’s critically acclaimed 2015 film, placed No. 3 with a better-than-expected $19 million. This time out, Stefano Sollima sat in the director’s chair, while Sony teamed with Black Label Media in making the adult drama (Lionsgate handled the first movie). Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin once again star, sans Emily Blunt.
The timely storyline follows a federal border agent (Brolin) who enlists Del Toro’s character in a battle to stop the Mexican drug cartels from trafficking terrorists across the border into the U.S.
Critics and audiences like the sequel far less than the first film. Sicario 2, which earned a B CinemaScore, garnered only a 64 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, compared with 93 percent for Sicario.
Internationally, Sicario 2 debuted to $8.4 million from 55 markets for a global bow of $27.4 million. Sony is handling the film in Latin America and Spain, while Lionsgate is handling the rest of the world.
Basketball comedy Uncle Drew — featuring an all-star cast of NBA legends — followed in fourth place with $15.5 million-plus. The Lionsgate/Summit film likewise beat tracking, but wasn’t able to break entirely free of the comedy slump gripping the box office. At the the same time, Lionsgate stands to profit from the movie, which cost less than $20 million to produce before marketing.
Uncle Drew stars Lil Rel Howery as a man who, with the help of the titular character (Kyrie Irving), assembles a team of older basketball players in hopes of winning a street ball tournament in Brooklyn. The movie’s roster of real-life basketball greats includes Irving, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Lisa Leslie and Reggie Miller. Tiffany Haddish and Nick Kroll also star.
Directed by Charles Stone III, the pic was adapted from a digital series created by Pepsi. Uncle Drew should benefit from an A CinemaScore, as well as from playing to an ethnically diverse audience. On opening weekend, 39 percent of ticket buyers were African-American, followed by Caucasians (32 percent), Hispanics (17 percent), Asians (9 percent) and other (4 percent).
The female-led spinoff Ocean’s 8 rounded out the top five domestically. The Warner Bros. film earned $8 million for a domestic total of $114.7 million. The studio hasn’t been as lucky with the male-skewing comedy Tag, which finished its third weekend with a domestic cume of just $40.9 million.
Globally, Ocean’s 8 jumped the $200 million mark after earning another $13.8 million overseas from 62 markets for a foreign total of $95 million and $209.7 million worldwide.
The specialty box office saw action as Neon’s documentary Three Identical Strangers posted a strong theater average of $32,605 in its debut in five theaters, followed by Debra Granik’s latest film, Leave No Trace, with a solid opening screen average of $24,018 for Bleecker Street.
This year has been a boon for documentaries, between Ruth Bader Ginsburg film RBG and Won’t You Be My Neigbhor?, about Fred Rogers. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, from Focus Features, stayed at No. 10 in its fourth weekend, earning $2.3 million from only 654 theaters for an early total of $7.5 million. RBG, which is winding down its theatrical run, has now earned $11.5 million.
