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Monday Mixer: It's a brand new 'World'

Posted Monday, June 15, 2015 at 2:58 PM Central

by John Couture

I spent most of my weekend in a smoky bar, did I miss anything?

While I was busy running a local poker tournament, the World changed, literally overnight. I've been a big fan of Chris Pratt for a long time, back when he was "Fat Chris Pratt," aka Mr. Anna Faris, but this is now Chris Pratt's World and we just live in it.

Some people claimed that his success with Guardians of the Galaxy was a fluke or simply the result of the juggernaut that is Marvel, but there's no doubt about it now. Chris Pratt is a bonafide A-lister and if he isn't already he will soon be the most sought after (and most unlikely) action hero in Hollywood.

The best part about it is that he seems like a great, affable guy who appreciates his newfound success. That's a rare commodity these days in Hollywood when even Uncle Jesse can't be counted on to call a designated driver.

To bring everything full circle, as I was dealing the final hands of this poker tournament yesterday, one of the two players heads up was someone who was a really nice and gracious player. That's not to take away anything from the other player, but Bill is just the kind of guy that no one can say a mean thing about. The prize for this tournament is a seat in next month's World Series of Poker main event, a $10,000 buy-in tournament that you may have seen on ESPN once or twice in the last decade or so.

At the end, the game was well-played by both players, but there could be only one winner. It was Bill and everyone in the bar (even the second place finisher) was genuinely happy for him. So, for Bill and Chris their kindness is paying off in spades finally and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Time to delve into this week's MM.

Box Office 411

You certainly can't accuse me of burying the lede in this MM. If you still haven't figured it out, Jurassic World was huge this weekend. How big? It was bigger than just some old dinosaur.

OK, that joke was pretty stale, but it's still true. Think about this for a minute. Universal's largest opening film of all time was this year's Furious 7, which opened with $147 million and has just over $350 million in total box office to date. Jurassic Park III ended its theatrical run with $181 million.

Jurassic World earned $204.6 million this weekend. That's good for the second best opening ever, sandwiched between the two Avengers films. It's only the second film ever to open over $200 million. That's pretty big.

The film basically doubled even the rosiest of predictions heading into the weekend and gave a healthy shot into the arm of the 2015 box office that had been rather anemic since Avengers: Age of Ultron opened in May. That's not to say that films haven't surprised, but very few have had much staying power.

While it's too soon to say what sort of legs that Jurassic World will have, I think it's safe to say that it's not going to go extinct anytime soon. We really don't have much to compare it to as it's already surpassed Jurassic Park III's total take and will pass The Lost World's $229 million haul sometime today or tomorrow. It will take a few weeks, but it's a pretty good bet that it will surpass the original film's $447 million box office number.

I think when it's all said and done Jurassic World will top $500 million, but falter soon after that. Our predictions at the beginning of the year can attest to just how shocking this performance is. Kudos to Dannette though for selecting Jurassic World as the third highest box office getter this year, I believe Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World will flip flop on her list with the dino flick finishing second.

Don't look now, but just when we thought Disney would run away as this year's studio share king at the box office, Universal is making a strong push for consideration. Between this and Furious 7, they are out to an early lead, but Disney will start fighting back this weekend with Inside Out. While not competing directly for the same audience, it should be very interesting to see how these two films affect one another this weekend. Grab some popcorn.

UPDATE:

I can't even get the MM posted before things change. Variety is reporting that Sunday's box office numbers were stronger than estimated and that Jurassic World has topped The Avengers opening salvo to become the highest opening weekend ever. That's pretty heady stuff right there when you think about it.

Quick Hitters

Mixer is for closers.