The Universal campaign focuses squarely on the wild dinosaur moments rather than playing up plot elements.
Three years ago, Universal’s Jurassic World revived the Jurassic Park franchise begun by director Steven Spielberg, who first brought “Blockbustersaurus rex” to theaters in 1993.

The franchise had lain dormant for more than a decade, but the 2015 film roared back with a new set of characters and a new park. The story largely ignored both 1997’s Lost World: Jurassic Park and 2011’s Jurassic Park III, instead setting up a situation where the public had embraced the genetically modified dinosaurs that inhabited an island theme park. Now, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are back for even more dino-mayhem.

To sell this year’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Universal has engineered a campaign that combines much of what made the 2015 series revival a hit with audiences. The new movie has already received a mixed 57 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes but is expected to bring in $130 million-plus this weekend, which would make it the third-biggest opener of 2018 behind Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther. The title has already grossed $372 million overseas, where it opened early in order to avoid direct competition with the World Cup soccer tournament.

Publicity Stunts

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard were enlisted for an early June marketing event with Jeep where a giant Amazon box revealed a T-Rex at The Grove in Los Angeles.

 

By Chris Thilk