The Original Jurassic Park Had a Great Weekend at the Box Office

Not many movies could be re-released in theaters after 30 years and still make a dent at the box office, but not many movies are Jurassic Park. This past weekend, Universal Studios celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Steven Spielberg classic by re-releasing it in 3D on over 1,200 screens. And while it didn’t quite compete with the likes of current box office juggernauts such as Barbie, it did make $1.7 million, which was good enough for number 13 overall.

That means Jurassic Park, a film released in 1993, outgrossed Sound of Freedom this weekend. It out-grossed The Last Voyage of the Demeter this weekend. It also outgrossed The Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Elemental, and many others. Yes, most of those have been out for weeks if not months, but none of them have been out for years and only a few of them are available to watch at home. (Jurassic also jumped 15% from Saturday to Sunday thanks to National Cinema Day.)

Of course, since its release in 1993, the Jurassic Park films have long been box office juggernauts. The original was, for a time, one of the highest-grossing films ever. Its sequel, The Lost World, had—at the time—the best opening weekend in history. And though there was a stumble with Jurassic Park III (though most studios would kill for a $50 million opening weekend, $400 million overall stumble), 2015’s Jurassic World brought the series back to those original heights, smashing all manner of records on its way to a place on the current top 10 of all time.

One has to think that, even based just on the recent success of Jurassic Park and Coraline, first-run theaters may start looking deeper into repertory screenings. Especially in the next few months when the full effects of the writers and actors strikes begin to be felt. When a movie like Jurassic Park can make almost $2 million in three days, you have to look at the decades of other classics that can attempt the same thing.

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