Jurassic Park and Jaws Top Weekend Box Office Along with Other Spielberg Classics

MovieWeb

By Ryan Scott

Published Jun 23, 2020

Steven Spielberg's blockbuster classic Jurassic Park surprisingly came in at the top of the box office over the weekend.

As the great Ian Malcolm once said, "Life finds a way." To that point, Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg's classic 1993 blockbuster, has once again topped the box office 27 years after its initial release. The box office in the U.S. has pretty much been on life support ever since most theaters closed in mid-March. But drive-ins have kept it alive and old classics dominated over the weekend, with the dino-filled adventure coming out on top.

Jurassic Park played on 230 theater screens and took in a reported $517,600. While that pales in comparison to the record-setting (at the time) $47 million that the movie earned on its opening weekend in June 1993, it's still an impressive feat. Though it is the result of unprecedented circumstances. Coupled with the re-release of the movie for its 20th anniversary, Jurassic Park has grossed more than $1 billion at the global box office. This marks the fourth time in its history that Jurassic Park managed to top the box office. During its original run, it outpaced the competition in its first three weekends of release.

As it turns out, Steven Spielberg was a big draw, overall, during Father's Day weekend. Jaws came it at number two with $516,300, with Back to the Future, which Spielberg produced, arriving at number six with $131,600. E.T. came in at number eight with $126,100 and The Goonies, which was another classic produced by Spielberg, rounding out the top ten with $110,850. It is, if nothing else, a testament to the number of beloved classics that the filmmaker has been attached to over the years.

Jurassic Park, which was adapted from Michael Crichton's novel of the same name, went on to spawn a multi-billion dollar franchise that is still going today. To date, five movies have been produced, including The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III, Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. A third entry in the current trilogy, Jurassic World: Dominion, is currently in the works and is slated to arrive in theaters next summer. To date, the Steven Spielberg produced series has grossed just over $5 billion globally, making it one of the most successful franchises in history.

There were roughly 1,100 theaters open in the U.S. this past weekend, but that is still but a small fraction of the total screens available in the country. Next month, AMC, Regal and Cinemark will all be reopening their doors. What remains to be seen is what the box office will look like once they do. Will people be willing to head out in droves to see Mulan or Tenet? Will theaters be able to pull in enough business to turn a profit? Will studios see enough return on investment? For now, we have more questions than answers but we will dive into the numbers when the time comes. This news comes to us via Deadline.