Jurassic World: Dominion roars to No. 1 at box office with $143 million debut

Dinosaurs don't need to worry about extinction at the theaters.

Jurassic World: Dominion left a massive footprint at the box office this weekend, debuting at No. 1 in North America with $143 million, according to Comscore. The earnings for the third and final installment of the Jurassic World trilogy aren't a far cry from 2018's Fallen Kingdom, which debuted to $148 million at the domestic box office. Dominion also roared across international territories, earning a total of $389 million worldwide.

Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum, Chris Pratt, and DeWanda Wise lead the final installment, which features the return of beloved Jurassic Park alums Sam Neill and Laura Dern. The two reprise their roles as Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, respectively, reuniting with Goldblum's Ian Malcolm once again. The film takes place four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, where dinosaurs now live and hunt alongside humans.

John Wilson/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum join Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in 'Jurassic World Dominion'

This fragile balance reshapes the future and determines whether human beings remain the apex predators amongst history's most fearsome creatures. EW's Joshua Rothkopf contends the storyline comes up much too prehistoric in his C- review. "Even with the original cast on board, there's surprisingly little chemistry or humor," he writes. "Some of the new dinos have red feathers, a cute touch, but there's little of the wonderment of the first film, barring an image of a sad bronto at a logging site."

He continues, "It's the kind of listless enterprise out of which a savvy actor can sometimes pop: DeWanda Wise, playing a daring pilot, is basically starring in a one-woman Raiders of the Lost Ark in her head. Let's get that concept to the sequel writers stat, before they build another theme park."

In a separate island where pilots inherit the earth, Top Gun: Maverick continued to soar at No. 2 with an additional $50 million at the domestic box office, bringing its total to $393 million. It flew past $700 million worldwide, earning $747 million globally. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness continued to conjure box office magic at third place, earning an additional $4.8 million. The Bob's Burgers Movie and The Bad Guys rounded out the top five, earning an extra $2.3 million and $2.2 million, respectively.

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