June is the month that gives us two long awaited sequels, one of which I have already seen. I think both of these films are going to make a lot of money, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one of them get into the billion dollar club.
MAJOR NORTH AMERICAN OPENING WEEKEND PREDICTIONS – June:
- Incredibles 2 – Buena Vista – June 15th – $140 million
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – Universal – June 22nd – $130 million
So, let’s start with Incredibles 2. Long awaited Pixar sequels have done tremendously well. Finding Nemo opened to $70 million (just like The Incredibles did), and then its sequel opened to almost twice as much ($135 million) and broke the Pixar opening weekend record. I think the fact that Incredibles 2 is a Pixar film, a long awaited sequel, and, in fact, a superhero movie will make it a huge success.
So, I have actually already seen Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The thing is that it was released early outside of the United States, likely due to the FIFA World Cup taking place on the previously planned US release date. Most Americans likely won’t care about the World Cup, when they aren’t represented in it. Anyway, you can find my review of Fallen Kingdom right here.
The thing is, we all know that Jurassic World broke records when it first came out, but it was also the first Jurassic-film in a long time, so that might have had something to do with it. I think there is a chance that it might underperform, but dinosaurs are still fun to watch and Chris Pratt is still a star, so I think it will still be a huge hit — even though Jurassic World has already fallen out of favor with bloggers.
MAJOR OPENING WEEKENDS – May:
- Deadpool 2 – Fox – May 18th, 2018 – $125 million (-20)
- Solo: A Star Wars Story – Disney – May 25th, 2018 – $84 million (-56)
So, I actually wrote an entire article on the poor performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story. So I will redirect you to the article: SOLO: A Star Wars Story’s Opening Weekend is So Low.
As for Deadpool 2? Well, I think the fact that it was put between Solo and Avengers: Infinity War hurt it. It also isn’t as fresh as the first one was, and I don’t think it was as good either. But it almost did as well as the first film did, so no one at Fox is crying over the opening weekend.
THE BILLION DOLLAR CLUB — 2018 Edition:
- Avengers: Infinity War – Disney/Marvel – $1.96 billion
- Black Panther – Disney/Marvel – $1.34 billion
So, this is pretty exciting. It actually does look like Infinity War will end up getting to two billion. It is pretty amazing that even though it looks like both Solo and A Wrinkle in Time have performed poorly, Disney is still having an incredibly strong year (and it isn’t close to being over for Disney).
As for June contenders? Well, you know, while the first Jurassic World did get to $1.6 billion, I don’t think Fallen Kingdom will find it as easy to get past $1 billion this year. That said, I do think it will get past the billion dollar mark. Also, don’t be surprised if Incredibles 2 gets past $1 billion like Finding Dory did.
– Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen
I'm Jeffrey Rex 
It’s a good idea not to release a movie during World Cup time. Most people will be watching the matches rather than going to the cinema.
That is true. But in most territories outside of the US, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has already been released — and, as for Incredibles 2, I know that that film has been pushed to July and August in some territories.