Induction Project

How did Jurassic World become a box-office success? How is a film’s success measured?

There are various different variables as to how Jurassic World became a box- office success, producing $204.6 million in the opening weekend alone and from June 14^th, the movie has a gross of $511.8 million worldwide. A films success is measured by how the film measures up against expectations as well as how much profit it makes.

     One of the main ways that helped this film to become as successful as it has turned out is the audiences of the past movies. As the first Jurassic film, Jurassic Park came out in 1993, many of the audience who watched this first film would have followed the story as each new film was made, meaning that they would have grown up watching these movies through the past 22 years. Many of these people would now have the chance to bring their own children along with them, just as their parents may have taken them to the first movie when they themselves were young- this would bring a nostalgic feeling to them by bringing back memories of the first film and realising the differences in the first and current film.

      The choice of actors to star in a movie can be the difference in the success or failure of the movie. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard play the films leads- Pratt playing Owen Grady, a Velociraptor expert and trainer with Howard playing Claire Dearing, the parks operations manager. Chris Pratt is a Hollywood rising star who many are beginning to know the name of, his charm, humour and acting skills help people to see him as a good actor, making his role aid the success of this film. Howard is also an important actor for the success of this movie, however due to her having no big film hits prior to the film such as Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy, many people did not know who she was. This however did not change her role in the film as many of the viewers would be intrigued to find out how well she did in the film. Another actor was a key part to the achievement to this film- B. D. Wong’s character in the film is the chief geneticist, Dr. Henry Wu. Both Wong and his character were revived from the original Jurassic film- this meant that many of those who had seen the first movie would enjoy watching a familiar face of the movie, creating a link of memories to the first one 22 years ago.

      Each film has a different director that brings their own style to a film- Colin Trevorrow was the director for Jurassic World, taking the movie into a new and exciting direction. The right director can make a film into a success, which was exactly what Trevorrow did- he used ideas that would interest both adults and children as well as bringing his own style to the film. Trevorrow used old references to the original film, creating a link to the original film.

      One of the most known aspects of the Jurassic films is the dinosaurs- the fascination of the viewers towards these prehistoric creatures’ means that this interests many people. The movie uses the old ideas of the original film in a new way- adding more detail to the creatures to make them look even more realistic, causing more people to watch and enjoy the film. Those who have followed the films throughout the years would have also been able to witness the progress of the dinosaurs throughout the years.

      Cinemas are also a reason why this film was a success as there are many cinemas across the world that would have shown this film over a number of weeks.  North America fetched the majority of money, generating over $611.23 million, whereas 60% of the money earned came from international countries. Both China and the UK generated the most money (see Figure 1), with China generating over $228.7 million and the UK generating over $100.3 million. This success was largely helped by China as this film was one of the 34 foreign films to be shown in this country, boosting the amount of people paying to watch it. The premiere of Jurassic World in China was also the same weekend as in the US, meaning that many people would want to see it sooner due to the lack of ratings of the film and the unknowing of whether it is good or not. China has produced over 20% of the total money earned- showing how much the movies success has been affected by China’s screening of the film.

       To sum up, there are many things that have made this movie a box-office a success, but from past audiences to the choice in directors and actors, there is no one reason that Jurassic World has been such a success in the box-office, but many different reasons built up.  

 

Figure 1