JURASSIC WORLD Scores $82.2M Friday; Opening Weekend Box Office Record in Danger

For weeks, Jurassic World has looked like a box office powerhouse. Analysts predicted that the film could crack $100 million over its opening weekend. It turns out Jurassic World only needed a day to get close to that — the fourth Jurassic Park movie opened with a $82.2 million Friday, the third opening best day in box office history.

Jurassic World's opening day trails only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2's $91.1 million and Avengers: Age of Ultron's $84.4 million. Neither of those movies cracked $200 million in the long run, but some box office analysts are now predicting that Jurassic World could accomplish that feat.

The only movie to ever open above $200 million is The Avengers, a movie that now holds the record for fourth best opening day in history with $80.8 million. If Jurassic World can stay strong over Saturday and Sunday, the film could top The Avengers' domestic opening weekend record of $207.4 million.

No one saw this coming. If you read any article on Monday saying that Jurassic World breaking the opening weekend record or even coming close to it was going to happen, someone's lying to you. Nothing in the way Jurassic World was tracking or in Chris Pratt's career history said this movie could break $200 million. When Guardians of the Galaxy opened to $94.3 million last summer, we knew that Pratt had some box office power. More than doubling that opening weekend with Jurassic World? Not on the radar.

The funny thing about the possibility of Jurassic World reclaiming the opening weekend record? If the movie can pull the feat off, it'll reclaim the opening weekend record that the franchise once held with The Lost World: Jurassic Park's $72.1 million. Yes, way back in 1997, $72.1 million earned you the distinction notching the biggest opening weekend in history.