Jurassic World smashes global record - 15th June 2015

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Jurassic World, the fourth film in the series that began with Jurassic Park, has gobbled up the competition to score the biggest worldwide box office opening weekend ever.

It pulled in US $511m globally as it opened in cinemas, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations - eclipsing Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (US $483m in 2011).

The unprecedented haul for the blockbuster, which has had largely good, if not sparkling reviews, was boosted by the $100m earned in China alone and it topped the box office in 66 countries.

In North America, the film made US $204.6m, just short of the record for an opening weekend in the region, held by Marvel's The Avengers (US $207m in 2012).

Co-produced by Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two of the four films, Jurassic World returns to the island theme park where scientists first revived T-Rex and other dinosaurs for paying customers over 20 years ago.

Paul Dergarabedian, a media analyst, said the film benefited from something of 'a perfect box-office storm'.

'Nostalgia, legacy, pedigree: Three things that can make a newly updated franchise a monster,' he said.

'There are many reasons Jurassic World is eating box office records like a hungry Indominus Rex: the original Jurassic Park was the second coming of Jaws and was for many the film that defined in the psyche their personal definition of the summer movie experience.

'At the time 1993's Jurassic Park was released it was the first film to ever open with over $50m and as such was seen and loved by a massive audience that were at once repelled and thrilled by its science-run-amok premise, its homage to the dinosaurs that everyone grew up learning about and were intrigued by.

'And not least of all, the collective movie theatre popcorn experience that the iconic superstar director Steven Spielberg delivered.'