Jurassic World: Dominion is set to beat Disney and Pixar’s new space adventure Lightyear this weekend, despite Dominion having been out in theaters for a week already.
Lightyear is reportedly opening well beneath expectations, projected to bring in somewhere between $51-55 million over the weekend, rather than the $70-$80 million Disney was expecting. Meanwhile, Jurassic is currently roaring toward another $57 million in its second weekend at the box office.
Lightyear – the film Andy saw that inspired him to ask for a Buzz Lightyear toy in Toy Story, scored an A- CinemaScore, suggesting a positive audience experience. It also has a “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes compared to Jurassic World Dominion’s “rotten” score.
Lightyear’s positive reviews could boost it’s sales via word of mouth. It’ll need it if it’s going to catch up to its budget, which is around $200 million.
Lightyear has come under fire by some groups, who are unhappy the film features a same-sex couple. There have been a slew of negative reviews on film sites, including Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, due to a scene in the film that depicts a kiss between Buzz’s best friend Alisha Hawthorne and her wife. The scene was initially cut, but was later restored after internal protests at Pixar and Disney.