Summer 2025 is shaping up to be a big one at the movies as high-profile titles likeSuperman,The Fantastic Four: First Steps,How to Train Your Dragon, andLilo & Stitchare just a few of the films competing to be the biggest movie of the season.Lilo & Stitchhas already emerged as a major player, but one contender isJurassic World: Rebirth. Earlier this year,Jurassic World: Rebirthwas voted2025’s most anticipated summer movieby Fandango users. While that doesn’t guarantee a box office victory, it is a good indicator of where audience interest was.
TheJurassicfranchise has long been a favorite at the box office, as audiences seemingly can’t get enough of dinosaurs. Given the past films in the franchise,Jurassic World: Rebirthis a billion-dollar movie. Even though Universal Pictures is counting on a big turnout this Fourth of July weekend,Jurassic World: Rebirthmight not be the sure-fire hit many anticipate. A combination of increasingly bad word of mouth from the prior films led to a decrease in box office, one thatJurassic World: Rebirthmight pay the price for. Looking at the history of theJurassicfranchise shows a moment where the series failed, and history might repeat itself.
Jurassic World Rebirth
Has the ‘Jurassic’ Franchise’s Negative Word of Mouth Caught up With It?
Conventional wisdom suggestsJurassic World: Rebirthwill be one of, if not the biggest, movies of the summer because the past threeJurassic Worldfilms were all box office smash hits. This is true, as all three films in the previous trilogygrossed $1 billion worldwide. However,it is worth noting that each subsequent film in the franchise grossed less than its predecessor.
Jurassic Worldwas undoubtedly the biggest movie of the summer in 2015, beating expected favoriteAvengers: Age of Ultronfor the top prize. This took many box office pundits by surprise, given the poor performance ofJurassic Park IIIyears prior and the fact thatAge of Ultronwas the sequelto one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Yet, audience nostalgia forJurassicwas high, and after 14 years, audiences were eager to return to the park in any form.Jurassic Worldgrossed $652 million domestically and $1.6 billion worldwide, and at the time, it set the record for the biggest opening weekend, pulling in $208 million. It was only beaten at the box office that year byStar Wars: The Force Awakens, another legacy sequel to a popular dormant franchise.
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdomgrossed $417 million at the domestic box office and $1.3 billion worldwide, three years later in 2018. Even though it was still a hit, it was notably down by more than $200 million domestically. That summer,Fallen Kingdomcame in behind movies likeAvengers: Infinity WarandIncredibles 2.Jurassic World: Dominionopened in 2022 following a delay from the COVID-19 pandemic and was a hit at the box office when theaters needed it, grossing $376 million domestic and $1.01 billion worldwide. The post-COVID-19 box office is a factor, but dropping $276 million from the first film’s domestic total indicates declining interest in the franchise among the audience.
One factor that seemingly impactedJurassic World’s decline at the box office has been negative word of mouth. Each film has seemingly had to deal with the poor reaction to the last one, and if that holds the same forJurassic World: Rebirth, that means it will need to deal with the poor audience reactionJurassic World: Dominionfaced, which audiences criticized for its locus subplot and poor handling of crossing over legacy characters with theJurassic Worldcast. Combine that with the absence of a nostalgia factor, as it has only been three years sinceJurassic World: Dominion, andaudiences might be experiencingJurassicfatigue.
‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ Has a Lot in Common With ‘Jurassic Park III’
Jurassic World: Rebirthis one of three high-profile films in July, along withSupermanandThe Fantastic Four: First Steps. Despite the excitement around both films, with the ticket sales forFantastic Fourcausing various theater sites to crash, there is an idea that those movies are at a bigger disadvantage thanJurassic World: Rebirthdue to being less viable box office properties. YetJurassic World: Rebirthisn’t entirely a safe bet, as it might play more likeJurassic Park IIIthanJurassic World.
Jurassic Park IIIopened in theaters on June 11, 2025. Given that 1993’sJurassic Parkwas one of the highest-grossing films of all time and its sequel, 1997’sThe Lost World: Jurassic Park, broke opening weekend records, it seemed like a safe bet thatJurassic Park IIIwould be the biggest movie that summer. However,Jurassic Park IIIdidn’t seem to have a strong marketing hook, and with poor word of mouth following its release, it could not generate audience engagement.
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Jurassic Park IIIdebuted with $50 million in its opening weekend, a $22 million decrease fromThe Lost World: Jurassic Parkfour years prior. It pulled in $181 million domestically, making it the ninth highest-grossing film that year at the domestic box office. That summer, it came well behind movies likePearl Harbor($198 million),The Mummy Returns($202 million),Rush Hour 2($226 million), andShrek($268 million). The idea of aJurassicmovie being the number one film at the box office has already been disproven once before, and seemingly could again.
Jurassic World: Rebirthhas a lot in common withJurassic Park III. Both films opt for seemingly episodic adventure formats within the broader franchise, with the premise being that a group of people end up on the island.Jurassic Park IIIstarted filming without a finished screenplay and was a troubled production.Universal Pictures also rushedJurassic World: Rebirthinto production, with the film only being announced in January 2024. Producers reportedly sought a director who would demand less auteur control over the production, allowing producers to have more creative control. Gareth Edwards signed on to direct a month later. Filming began in June 2024, not long after the project was announced and nearly 13 months before the film opened in theaters.
‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’s Box Office Prospects
Even thoughSupermanandThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsare new spins on franchises that have struggled at the box office, both are going out of their way tomarket themselves as something new.Jurassic World: Rebirth, however, looks like more of the same, and the question is whether that’s enough for general audiences to rush out and spend their money on, particularly at a moment of economic inflation. There is a chance thatJurassic World: Rebirthwill be very good, and word of mouth will carry it, although the trailers have not inspired much confidence.
It would take a disaster forJurassic World: Rebirthto flop at the box office, and with the Fourth of July weekend, it will have an 11-day run untilSupermanopens. There is no doubt it will make a decent profit, particularly worldwide, as the series has exploded over the past few years at the global box office. Yet the chances of it being the king of the summer are not as clear as estimates and pundits might think.
It has been ten years sinceJurassic Worldopened in theaters and exceeded expectations.Jurassic World: Rebirthdoesn’t have the same audience goodwill going into this year; it is at a disadvantage, as it might be seen as just another sequel to the franchise, rather than a nostalgic return of a beloved series or a meaningful continuation of the story.Jurassic Worldmight find itself in the boat that theTransformersfilms did. A once-popular franchise that was guaranteed to be a summer smash hit, grossing a billion dollars regardless of quality, until one day, audiences just stopped showing up.Jurassic Worldis heading to theaters on July 04, 2025.
