Yea, I don't know why people are treating TGW as a typical blockbuster. Crouching Tiger did $128M and the more cerebral Hero did $40M plus. But those movies are bad-ass martial art movies with some of the best state-of-the-art choreography. You mix in CGI, NA audiences bail. Also, I think people are sick of Lord of the Rings-inspired CGI-enhanced "massive battle sequences" The best FX movies like Gravity, Revenant & Fury Rd, you tend not to see the special effects.
Well, TGW is supposed to make most of its money in China & Asia anyway. Whatever the movie earns in NA is supposed to cover the catering, trailers, celebrity make-up artists, TV appearances, publicists, legalities, "pr/media advisors" & other nonsense fees.
Also another weird thing: the subsequent Jurassic movies after the mega success of the first one has been received with less and less enthusiasm.
Jurassic Park III earned $180M compared to JP1's $357M. Adjusted, JPIII grossed about 37% of JP1's $745M. And after 20 years (from JP1's release),
suddenly the GA is dinosaur-crazy again??
Look at Mermaid's gross. Look at BvS' disappointing gross.
It shows Chinese audience don't just go for Hollywood big titles because it is heavily hyped.
Hollywood needs to do something more.
Some even considered a sub-$50M opening. I thought the movie is a lot of fun, same tone as the 1st LEGO,a non-Disney which came out of nowhere 3 years ago and did almost $70M at opening.