Movies

Jurassic World: Rebirth Passes Two Spielberg Movies on Its Way to Major Box Office Milestone

Jurassic World: Rebirth cleared some major hurdles at the box office last month, even surpassing some of the biggest titles by the franchise’s original director, Steven Spielberg. The movie has earned a total gross of over $799.9 million at the time of this writing, according to Box Office Mojo. The site lists catalogs the total gross for other movies over time, making it easy to see that Rebirth just out-earned E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, as well as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. As always, there are a lot of factors to consider with these kinds of comparisons, but overall, it seems like good news for the Jurassic World franchise.

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E.T.‘s lifetime gross is over $797.3 million at the time of this writing, while Crystal Skull has earned over $786.6 million. Box Office Mojo’s list of highest-earning movies has Rebirth at number 111, followed by E.T. at 112 and Crystal Skull trailing behind at 116. However, it’s worth noting that this list is not adjust for inflation, and that factor could significantly alter these rankings.

Bicycles over the moon in Steven Spielberg's ET the Extra-Terrestrial
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures

There are other major considerations when weighing these movies against each other, and franchise momentum may be the most interesting. E.T. was a brand new concept and an unknown quantity when it debuted, famously trying to make the concept of an alien visitor less terrifying and more wholesome. By comparison, Rebirth has all the inertia of the Jurassic Park trilogy and the previous Jurassic World trilogy behind it, along with decades of franchise expansion. Viewers can decide for themselves how that measures up against the esteem of Spielberg’s name as “director” in the credits.

Adding Crystal Skull into the mix changes the perspective on this factor quite a bit, however. The belated sequel had both Spielberg’s credibility and franchise momentum behind it, yet it was not as successful and is not remembered fondly by most fans. It’s an interesting case study in the limits of goodwill from fans and the power of strong branding.

Jurassic World: Rebirth has fared well with critics and fans, with the biggest complaints against it being that it does nothing new and simply delivers more of what fans have come to expect from the franchise. It is the fourth-highest-grossing movie of 2025 so far, and notably, it hasn’t become available to watch at home yet in any form. Whenever it does move to streaming, it will be available on Peacock. In the meantime, fans have no way to catch this summer blockbuster other than hitting up their local theater.