For around 180 million years, dinosaurs ruled the earth. The most dominant lifeform on the planet, they were at the top of the food chain until their untimely extinction around 65 million years ago. Flash forward to the present day, and for 28 years, dinosaurs have been once again on top... of the box office, that is. The Jurassic Park franchise has ruled the cinematic world since the record-breaking release of the first film in 1993.
Jurassic Park, based on the Michael Crichton novel of the same name, was the first outing for the dino franchise and changed the way movies were made forever. This film was such a success that the franchise is still absolutely eating the competition up at the box office 28 years later, and with merchandising, theme parks, television spin-offs, and home video, combined revenues value the franchise at over $9 billion, one of the most successful media franchises of all time. But at the box office, which of the five theatrically released films (so far!) earned the most?
6 'Jurassic Park'
Before the eponymous novel had even been released, studios were clamoring for the rights to the techno-thriller. Universal won the bidding war, acquiring them for director Steven Spielberg, who had been working on another script with author Michael Crichton (that would eventually become the television program ER) and was fascinated with the potential of the story. $63 million was greenlit by Universal for the film, and when the film was released three years later in 1993, their investment paid off.
Earning $912.7 million, Jurassic Park became the highest-grossing movie of all time during its initial release. Beating the previous record-holder (E.T., another Spielberg production) by almost $300 million, Jurassic Park held its spot at the top of the box office until Titanic became the first film to gross over $1 billion in ticket sales when it crossed the threshold in 1998. Throughout its cinematic release, Jurassic Park broke box office records in almost every country it was released in. But the records didn't end there. The 2013 20th anniversary 3D rerelease, 2018 25th anniversary rerelease, and the 2020 coronavirus lockdown rerelease all brought in more profits, for a lifetime run of $1.034 billion, making it the oldest film to make over $1 billion, and sitting as the 37th highest-grossing film of all time.
5 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park'
Demand was so high for a sequel following the release of the film and novel that author Michael Crichton eventually gave in and wrote The Lost World. With a $10 million increase to the budget, the film adaptation The Lost World: Jurassic Park arrived in May 1997. The script for the film would differ greatly from that of the novel and would include scenes from the first book that were not used in the original movie. While the critical reception for The Lost World was not as glowing as that for its predecessor, the film still broke several box office records, including the biggest opening weekend take of all time, and the fastest film to cross $100 million. Its total takings, however, did not match Jurassic Park, ultimately making a worldwide total of $618.6 million worldwide.
4 'Jurassic Park III'
The first and only dip in the series came with the third film, Jurassic Park III. Released in 2001, JP3 is the first in the franchise to not be based on an existing Crichton story, but includes characters and ideas from his novels that did not appear in the previous films. Despite the increased budget of $93 million, the less than spectacular reviews and loss of magical Spielberg as director dampened the reception to the blockbuster, which wound up taking only $368.8 million worldwide.
3 'Jurassic World'
Nostalgia sells. That was the criticism Jurassic World faced when it arrived in theatres in June 2015. Just like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which would rake in over $2 billion just a few months later, Jurassic World was accused of repacking and reselling the first film in the series with a shiny new cover. But if anyone cared, it wasn't the audience that showed up on opening weekend, giving Jurassic World the biggest opening weekend of all time. The film opened to $500 million (more than JP3's entire theatrical run), beating the previous record-holder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 by more than $40 million. With over $1.67 billion, Jurassic World finished its run as the third highest-grossing film in history. Six years later, it still sits in the top 10 as the sixth-highest grosser and holds the record as the most successful film in the Jurassic Park series.
2 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom'
Audiences loved Jurassic World, and with the destruction of the park and the dinosaurs set free at the end of the film, they wanted to know what was going to come next. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom followed in 2018, and became the third out of five films to cross $1 billion at the global box office. Despite the movie's largely negative reviews, it grossed over $1.3 billion, becoming the second highest-grossing film in the series and peaking as the twelfth highest grosser of all time.
1 'Jurassic World: Dominion'
The ongoing global pandemic has disrupted movie scheduling since March 2020, and the next Jurassic movie, Jurassic World: Dominion wasn't left unscathed. The Jurassic World trilogy ender and sixth film in the franchise was meant to debut in the summer of 2021 but got delayed twelve months to 2022. Forbes suggests this delay, along with Disney shuffling their entire theatrical lineup, will essentially leave Jurassic World: Dominion alone to rule the summer. And with Tom Holland's third Spider-Man film expected to be the first billion-dollar movie since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker last did so in 2019, a return to normalcy in the summer of 2022 will hopefully send JW3 to heights that will at least match the $1.3 billion of its predecessor.
Over at Observer, analysts are a little more doubtful of Spider-Man's chances, but agree that JW3 will be one of the first film's to recoup $1 billion. And with the original film's cast returning for a story that dircector Colin Trevorrow has described as a "celebration of everything that has existed in the franchise up until now," this will surely be the film to bring audiences back in droves after two years of social distancing.