{"id":622502,"date":"2026-10-06T18:04:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/622502\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T18:04:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:04:21","slug":"jurassic-world-rebirth-roars-off-with-220-million-profit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/622502\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Jurassic World: Rebirth\u2019 Roars Off With $220 Million Profit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Luna<\/a> ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ roared to a profit. <\/p>\n

Jurassic World: Rebirth made a $218.6 million profit at the box office last year according to analysis of filings from Universal Pictures. <\/p>\n

The movie’s monster haul was thanks to an innovative approach which led to its costs coming in at $254.2 million (\u00a3194 million) \u2013 less than 50% of the amount spent on each of its two predecessors, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World: Dominion. <\/p>\n

Although Rebirth was headlined by A-Lister Scarlett Johansson, its prequels both featured Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in the lead roles. Dominion even united them with Lara Dern, Jeff Goldblum and the late Sam Neill, the trio who kicked off the franchise about reanimated dinosaurs in 1993’s Jurassic Park. <\/p>\n

Visual effects powerhouse Industrial Light & Magic revolutionized movie-making when it created the photorealistic digital dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and, since then, it has worked on all seven movies in the franchise including Rebirth. However, instead of being shot largely on soundstages in front of green screens, like many of its prequels, a great deal of Rebirth was filmed on location in Malta and Thailand. <\/p>\n

\"Jurassic<\/a> ‘Rebirth’ filmed in the jungles of Thailand rather than building expensive sets. <\/p>\n

Typically, shooting on location is more expensive than filming in a studio but that’s not the case when the set being built is an elaborate jungle environment which needs to be lit, watered and subsequently removed. <\/p>\n

Not only does it have to look just like the real thing with intricate rock formations, trees and foliage but it also needs a floor which is capable of supporting cameras, cranes, vehicles and crew. The set doesn’t just need to be procured and built, it also needs to be designed before construction can begin. <\/p>\n

In contrast, shooting in a real-world jungle just requires a location scout as well as transporting the crew there and accommodating them. Rebirth’s director Gareth Edwards made the most of the landscape with his run-and-gun style which he employed on Monsters, the 2010 horror sci-fi flick that made his name. This style gave Rebirth an added air of realism and grittiness which perfectly suited the real-world settings. Edwards himself, rather than the camera operator, sometimes even got behind the 35mm Panavision himself which helped to reign in the cost even further. That was just the start. <\/p>\n

\"Gareth<\/a> Director Gareth Edwards was often literally behind the camera. <\/p>\n

The principal locations chosen for the shoot were Malta and Thailand with the former refunding studios at least 30% of their spending there and the latter offering a rebate of up to 30%. In short, Universal got back around a third of the money that it spent shooting on location in the two countries. This certainly didn’t represent the lion’s share of the costs with Thailand alone only accounting for $12 million of spending. However, Universal had another trick up its sleeve to reel in more of its costs. <\/p>\n

Story Continues <\/p>\n

The majority of the production was based at Sky Studios Elstree just outside London in the United Kingdom which offers studios a refund of up to 25.5% of their spending in the country provided that at least 10% of the core costs are incurred there. <\/p>\n

The refund is calculated on up to 80% of core expenditure. This means that in order to get back the maximum 25.5% of the money they spend in the U.K., studios need to ensure that 20% of their core costs are spent outside the country. If the spending in the U.K. is higher than 80% of the total, the studio doesn’t get a reimbursement on the amount above that level. Likewise, if the amount of spending is less than 80% of the total, the studio is missing out on a reimbursement on it, unless it also films in countries abroad which offer a higher refund rate than the U.K. <\/p>\n

Rebirth ticked this box with its jet setting while ensuring that the U.K. remained the main home of the production enabling it to get the refund. This is confirmed in filings for Saga Productions, Universal’s U.K. subsidiary which produced the film. They state that the production received a British Film Certificate and it took more than the wave of a wand to do it. <\/p>\n

In addition to incurring at least 10% of their core costs in the U.K., studios have to pass a points test based on factors such as how many of the lead actors are from the country, the amount of U.K. content and how much it promotes the country’s heritage. Having a British director also counts towards this, as does filming on location in the U.K. Rebirth did this as well as building sets at Elstree including boat interiors, an ancient temple and a 70-foot cliff face for an abseiling sequence. <\/p>\n

\"Jurassic<\/a> Sets including a temple were built at Elstree Studios. <\/p>\n

There is no limit to the amount that can be paid out under the U.K. reimbursement scheme. It even pays studios a pro rata reimbursement<\/a> on what are known as neutral costs throughout the production such as insurance and payment to senior producers, writers and directors. <\/p>\n

These costs can be claimed in proportion to the amount of the activity in the U.K. so, for example, if the spending there only represents 22% of the total budget then 22% of the neutral costs will also qualify for reimbursement. Accordingly, the level of reimbursement can rise close to a third of the total costs which is a staggering sum. <\/p>\n

The Saga Productions filings indicate that its refund of $38 million (\u00a328.7 million) only represented 14.8% of its $254 million spending as of May 31 last year, just days before the movie debuted. This lower rebate level is likely due to the extensive foreign filming and it still yielded a net cost of just $216 million. <\/p>\n

Studios typically receive 50% of the box office takings, which came to a total of $869.1 million for Rebirth. That yields the $218.6 million profit without even factoring in revenue from merchandise or home entertainment. They aren’t disclosed in the U.K. filings as they are banked directly by the studio in the United States which also covers marketing costs. <\/p>\n

Rebirth’s profit isn’t driven by blockbuster ticket sales. In fact, it grossed considerably less than both of its predecessors with Fallen Kingdom’s takings coming to $1.3 billion while Dominion earned $1 billion. <\/p>\n

Instead, Rebirth’s rosy bottom line was due to it having a lower cost with $606.3 million (\u00a3472 million) spent on Fallen Kingdom and Dominion’s $683.7 million (\u00a3531.7 million) pandemic-fueled price tag making it the most expensive movie in history as this report<\/a> revealed. <\/p>\n

Tight cost control has become one of Edwards’ hallmarks. He used a tiny crew and an almost documentary-style approach to make 2023 sci-fi epic The Creator for just $93.5 million. In July last year I broke the news<\/a> that The Creator’s costs over-ran but Edwards has learned his lesson as the filings for Rebirth state that “the estimated final cost was in line with the budget.” <\/p>\n

Time will tell what Universal itself has learned from the experience. Unsurprisingly given Rebirth’s financial success, the studio has reportedly commissioned a sequel. However, surprisingly, it has not confirmed that Edwards will helm it and instead Fallen Kingdom director J.A. Bayona is believed to be the front-runner. If he does indeed take over the hot seat he will have big boots to fill. <\/p>\n

Additional research by Chris Sylt <\/p>\n

This article was originally published on Forbes.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ roared to a profit. Jurassic World: Rebirth made a $218.6 million profit at the box…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2169,138,553,219,246,5932,329,37332,5933,5483,16400,7454,111,139,69,244,8499,13081,294,781,5934,5935,643,37333,7496,145,37334],"class_list":["post-622502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-401k","tag-business","tag-business-news","tag-economy","tag-finance","tag-financial-information","tag-investing","tag-investment-tools","tag-investor","tag-market-news","tag-mortgage","tag-mutual-funds","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-personal-finance","tag-quote","tag-real-estate","tag-retirement","tag-stock","tag-stock-research","tag-stock-valuation","tag-stocks","tag-suze-orman","tag-tax","tag-technology","tag-track-portfolio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}