It has become a banner year for Universal Pictures. According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, Jurassic World has passed surprise hit Furious 7 to become the top grossing film of 2015… so far.
Following the death of principal actor, Paul Walker, Furious 7 was put on hiatus, then finished with script rewrites, body doubles provided by Walker’s brothers, and some CG to smooth it all out. While expectations were high for Furious 7 due to the tragedy surrounding Paul Walker’s death, the movie seemed to carry its own momentum as it shattered box office expectations. Domestic gross was impressive at $350 million, but outside the US it has taken in an additional $1.16 billion. Since it was released early in the year, it had very little competition for the month before Avengers: Age of Ultron took its shot.
Although it received generally positive reviews by both critics and fans, the Avengers sequel was not able to get quite the same momentum as its predecessor. It beat Furious 7 in domestic gross, it came up short by more than $100 million on the worldwide stage.
The real breakout hero of the year could be Jurassic World. Although many moviegoers were initially skeptical of yet another Jurassic Park sequel (myself included), it quickly rocketed to take the top opening weekend title away from the first Avengers film. After its sixth weekend in theatres, it has taken in $1,513 million in worldwide gross, which puts it just past Furious 7 as the top grossing film of 2015 on the worldwide stage.
With only $6 million difference between it and the first Avengers film, Jurassic World could take the #3 spot by the end of the week. That would put Jurassic World behind only James Cameron’s Titanic and Avatar, each with over $2 billion gross; records that are sure to remain safe until the end of the year.
While I’m sure Buena Vista (Disney) hoped for more from Avengers: Age of Ultron, they still have one more ace up their sleeves. While it may not top $2 billion within the 2015 calendar year, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has potential to smash the newest and oldest box office records.
No other movie in 2015 has yet broken into the top 100 for worldwide gross except Minions, which sits at “only” $625 million. What 2015 film do you think needs more recognition? Ex Machina? It Follows? Let us know in the comments below.
Everyone seems to think that Star Wars will smash the $2 billion mark, but I have serious doubts it will. I think it will easily make $1.8 billion, but that franchise just doesn’t have the international appeal that James Cameron’s movies did. Cameron’s stories were very much a global appeal due to the relatability of those stories. Star Wars doesn’t have that. I fully expect it to take every record in the USA and Europe and maybe Japan. But I have my doubts about the other big film markets: China and India. Especially India since it’s clashing with two huge home releases there.