Universal Pictures, with T. rex's help, stomps to big year at the box office

Jurassic World is helping Comcast Corp.-owned Universal Pictures devour box-office records like a T. rex.

The futuristic franchise reboot barreled to $1 billion in a record-setting 13 days this month and could surpass $1.5 billion before it fades to extinction on the big screen, movie-industry observers say.

Though it's only June, the Hollywood studio says it already has set an all-time record for annual gross receipts - $3.8 billion through Monday, compared with $3.7 billion for all of 2013, the previous high.

Other Universal movies slated for release just this summer: Ted 2 and Minions, Trainwreck and Straight Outta Compton.

Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst for research firm BoxOffice.com, says Universal Pictures could be 2015's highest-grossing Hollywood film studio - which would be a first for Universal in the modern era.

Observers attribute its hit-it-out-of-the-park six months to several factors: Universal's pushing Jurassic World and Furious 7, also a billion-dollar movie this year, onto the 2015 slate from 2014; engaging films, thrilling trailers and effective social-media campaigns; and shrewd scheduling. The sexually adventurous Fifty Shades of Grey, for example, owned Valentine's Day.

"It's absolutely unprecedented," said Nick Carpou, president of domestic distribution at Universal Pictures. "Who knows where this goes ultimately? We're really enjoying the moment. We've never been here before."

In the cyclical movie business, this seems to be as good as it gets, and it takes some of the sting out of Philadelphia-based Comcast's disappointing and expensive failed bid to purchase Time Warner Cable Inc.

Comcast abandoned the $45 billion deal in late April, after government regulators in Washington indicated that they disapproved of the merger of the nation's largest and second-largest cable companies.

Consumer groups also bashed the deal as combining two companies with abysmal customer-satisfaction ratings, with no guarantee that the merged entity would be any better than either Comcast or Time Warner Cable.

But pleasing moviegoers this year seems to be a different story.

"They've made the right programming decisions," David Egan, an analyst with Telsey Advisory Group, said of Comcast/NBCUniversal. "Certain companies have better track records [in the entertainment business] than others, and they are improving their track record."

Comcast acquired the troubled NBCUniversal news and entertainment conglomerate, including Universal Pictures, in 2011, and so far has rebuilt the NBC broadcast-TV business and vastly expanded the Universal theme parks in Florida and California. Now, Egan said, it seems as if the Universal Pictures business has been mended.

Revenue for Universal Pictures will likely be $300 million to $500 million higher in 2015 than originally forecast on Wall Street because of the success of this year's slate, he said.

Contrino called it a "huge accomplishment" for Universal to have three potential billion-dollar films in one year: Jurassic World, Furious 7 and the July 10 release Minions.

Minions is a spin-off of the Despicable Me animation franchise. The first Despicable Me movie was released in 2010, and the second in 2013, grossing $971 million.

"The Minions themselves are in our worldwide culture," Carpou said, discussing the film's potential. "They are recognized around the world."

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