'Jurassic World Dominion' Stomps On 'Lightyear' At The Weekend Box Office

In cinematic duel between dinosaurs and astronauts resulted in an upset victory for the dinosaurs as “Jurassic World Dominion” topped the U.S. weekend box office for a consecutive week while the premiere engagement of “Lightyear” achieved a less-than-stellar second-place ranking.

What Happened: “Jurassic World Dominion,” released by Comcast Corp.’s CMCSA Universal Pictures, brought in $57.1 million from 4,697 theaters while “Lightyear” from the Walt Disney Co.’s DIS Pixar division accumulated $51 million from 4,255 screens.

“Lightyear” also brought in a relatively weak $85.6 million from overseas markets – 14 countries including China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates refused to screen the film after Disney rejected the demands of local censors to edit out a same-sex kiss between two female characters in the animated feature.

But “Lightyear” and “Jurassic World Dominion” also faced a domestic challenge from Paramount Global’s PARAA “Top Gun: Maverick,” which has yet to wear out its welcome – the Tom Cruise action epic brought in $40 million from 4,262 theaters for its fourth week in release.

In comparison, the fourth and fifth place finishers in the box office top five were miles behind the three leaders: Disney’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” grossed $4.2 million from 2,465 theaters while “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” from Disney’s 20th Century Studios division grossed $1.18 million from 1,350 venues.

What Happens Next: This coming weekend finds two highly anticipated films going into national release. Baz Luhrmann’s flashy biopic “Elvis” from Warner Bros. WBD was an audience favorite at the recent Cannes Film Festival, with Austin Butler in a potentially star-making role as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as the singer's controversial manager Col. Tom Parker.

Also rolling out across the country is the horror flick “The Black Phone” from Universal Pictures. This film has been slow to gain a theatrical release – it had its premiere last September at Fantastic Fest in Austin and was initially planned for a February premiere but is only now hitting cinemas via Universal Pictures.

A few smaller films playing in limited release will also be arriving next weekend. These include the Western “Murder at Yellowstone City” from RJLE Films, a subsidiary of AMC Networks AMCX; A24’s offbeat comedy “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” based on the 2010 award-winning animated short film by Dean Fleischer-Camp; and Kino Lorber’s release of the Swiss drama “Olga,” about a teenage Ukrainian gymnast during the 2013 Maidan Uprising.

Also Worth Noting: Two versatile actors who created memorable performances across the years recently passed away.

Character actor Philip Baker Hall died on June 12 at the age of 90. Hall (who is no relation to the author of this article) was a teacher who changed careers in pursuit of acting. He was slow to gain traction in his career – his first screen part was an uncredited bit in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1970 “Zabriskie Point” – but in 1984 he secured his first starring role as President Richard M. Nixon in Robert Altman’s “Secret Honor,” an unusual production with Hall as the sole actor on screen.

Despite the acclaim for “Secret Honor,” Hall never became a top-of-the-bill star, but he was an in-demand supporting actor who often stole the show with his versatile performing skills. His notable screen work included “Boogie Nights” (1997), “Magnolia” (1999), “The Insider” (1999) and “Argo” (2012), and he received small-screen immortality as Lt. Joe Bookman on “Seinfeld.”

French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant died on June 17 at the age of 91. Trintignant first gained attention starring opposite Brigitte Bardot in the 1956 film “And God Created Woman” – although, truth be told, most of the attention generated by that film was due to Bardot’s sultry presence.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Trintignant starred in a series of highly acclaimed European productions “A Man and a Woman” (1966), “Trans-Europ-Express” (1966), the Oscar-winning “Z” (1969), “My Night at Maud’s” (1969), “The Conformist” (1970) and “Without Apparent Moment” (1971); the 1973 thriller “The Outside Man” co-starring Ann-Margret and Angie Dickinson was a rare American-lensed production for the actor. Among his later work, Trintignant starred in two well-received films by Michael Haneke: “Amour” (2012) and “Happy End” (2017).

Photo: "Lightyear," courtesy of Disney / Pixar