LIHUE — Dinosaurs ruled the Earth last weekend, when “Jurassic World” dominated at the box office. The film brought in more than $208 million domestically, narrowly beating Marvel’s “The Avengers” to take the title of highest-grossing opening weekend of all
LIHUE — Dinosaurs ruled the Earth last weekend, when “Jurassic World” dominated at the box office.
The film brought in more than $208 million domestically, narrowly beating Marvel’s “The Avengers” to take the title of highest-grossing opening weekend of all time.
The film brought in more than $500 million worldwide as audiences flocked to see the fourth installment of the “Jurassic Park” franchise. That’s the first time any movie has crossed the half-billion mark its opening weekend.
But on Kauai, where parts of the movie were filmed, audiences have had to wait. Except for a special screening put on last week for those involved in the film’s production, no one on the island has had an opportunity to watch the movie in theater.
That just changed. “Jurassic World” will open on Kauai Friday — one week earlier than originally slated.
“We know everyone wants to see it,” said Marlene Blair, owner of Kukui Grove Cinemas. She added that no one expected the movie to perform so well.
Early projections predicted that the movie would have strong sales, but it ended up far surpassing expectations.
Blair explained that the reason the Kukui Grove Cinemas initially decided to delay showing the movie is because Universal Studios insisted on the theater initially showing the movie in 3D, and she knew that many viewers prefer the traditional format.
But now, the film will play on two screens, meaning moviegoers will have the option of seeing it in either traditional format or 3D. But anyone who wants to see it in 3D should hurry — Blair said that the theater plans to run “Jurassic World” in 3D for one week only.
James and Colette Kawamura are among those on Kauai who plan to see the movie. And a line is expected for the first showing of the movie at 2 p.m. Friday. The movie will play in 3D at 3:30 p.m. There will be more showings that night and throughout the weekend and coming weeks.
Former Kauai Film Commissioner Art Umezu said he was glad Kauai audiences would not have to wait another week to see the movie.
“People here want to see their own island,” he said.
Umezu, who was heavily involved in getting the studio to film on Kauai, also said the film’s success is good for the island.
“We are associated with the biggest movie ever,” he said. “This one touches a kid to somebody who is much older and the whole world is talking about it now.
“This particular movie is going to make it so much easier to promote this island.”
Umezu said another major production has already been scouting the island for locations, but he was not able to say for what movie.
As for “Jurassic World” Blair expects it will perform well on Kauai, but she wondered how it will continue to fare worldwide.
“It will be interesting to see this week how much the movie will have fallen off.”
