‘Jurassic World’ to become fastest film to cross $ 1 b

Friday, 26 June 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Howard poses at the premiere of "Jurassic World" in Hollywood

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com): ‘Jurassic World’ is poised to cross $ 1 billion at the global box office more quickly than any film before it.

The dinosaur blockbuster should eclipse that mark on Monday after 13 days in theatres, trumping the record set earlier this year by ‘Furious 7’, which took 17 days to pass that barrier. Currently, the Universal release’s worldwide total sits at $ 981.3 million, after topping foreign charts this weekend with a $ 160.5 million haul from 66 territories.

The film has shattered expectations. Going into the summer, analysts expected that the picture would be overshadowed by ‘Minions’ and ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’. Now, it has a chance of being the highest-grossing release of the year, potentially giving ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ a run for its money when it debuts this December.

“It’s destroying box office records,” said Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “It will be interesting to see how well it continues to perform. Can ‘Star Wars’ even compete with this film?”

The picture isn’t just a domestic smash. Jurassic World has done massive business in China, where it has earned $ 167.1 million, more than double the amount it has racked up anywhere else save for the United States.

Disney and Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’ also put up big numbers at the foreign box office, though its international rollout is more staggered than that of many summer blockbusters. The critically adored family film earned a robust $ 41 million from 41 territories, the biggest of which were Mexico ($ 8.8 million), Russia ($ 7.7 million) and France ($ 5.2 million). The Russian debut ranks as Disney’s biggest animated opening in the country, while Mexico represented the best ever kick-off for an animated film that isn’t a sequel. The film still has much of Europe left to open and won’t land in China until 30 July.

Foreign audiences got an early look at ‘Minions’, the ‘Despicable Me’ spinoff that is expected to be one of the summer’s biggest hits. The Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment release bowed in four international territories this week, a quartet that includes Singapore, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia, where it generated a sizable $ 12.3 million in receipts.

Among milestones, Warner Bros. and New Line’s ‘San Andreas’ crossed $ 400 million at the global box office, pushing the $ 110 million movie squarely in profitable terrain. The disaster film added $ 18.8 million to its $ 414.2 million bounty.

The rest of the top five was rounded out by ‘SPL II: A Time for Consequences’, the sequel to the hit 2005 Hong Kong martial arts film ‘SPL: Sha Po Lang’, which earned a sizable $ 29 million.