UniversalIf you headed to the movie theater this weekend to watch Chris Pratt take on the dinosaurs in Jurassic World, you were not alone, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Jurassic World roared to a record $204.6 million debut in North America and $511.8 million globally, some 22 years after Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park first hit theaters.
While it’s second right now, there’s a strong possibility that when all the money’s tallied, Jurassic World could unseat 2012’s The Avengers with the biggest opening of all time, which was $207.4 million.
Jurassic World also stomped the record for the biggest worldwide debut in history — a high water mark formerly set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2‘s $483.2 million opening back in 2011, and the Pratt-headlined dino movie also became the first film in history to cross the half-billion dollar mark globally on opening weekend.
“Everything with Jurassic World so far has been like nothing I’ve ever seen,” co-star Jake Johnson enthused to ABC Radio. “So, I’m excited as an actor to be part of something this big.”
Producer Frank Marshall explained that the hit follows a tried-and-true formula that many great films have — and he should know, as in addition to the Jurassic Park movies, he backed the likes of the blockbuster Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, and Bourne franchises. “It’s a combination of three things,” Marshall says. “Care about the characters, great action, and some humor thrown in to…be the release valve for the scares.”
And then there’s the Pratt factor.
Coupled with the Pratt’s 2014 — which saw him starring in the $774 million-plus-earning Guardians of the Galaxy, and the nearly $470 million-minting The LEGO Movie — Jurassic cemented the one-time doughy Parks and Rec sideman as solid gold at the box office.
He recently told Entertainment Weekly that he’ll be in the dino-taming business for some time, joking “I think they have me for I think 38 movies or something.”
He’ll also be starring in a follow-up to Guardians in 2017 and will again voice Emmet in the LEGO Movie Sequel in 2018.
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