'Jurassic World' Sells 1 Billion Worth of Tickets 2015-06-26

In just two weeks, "Jurassic World" has earned more than one billion dollars in ticket sales around the world. It is already the second most popular movie of 2015. The huge hit is part of the dinosaur movie series that began in 1993 with the Academy Award-winning "Jurassic Park." The latest film opened on June 10.

"Jurassic World" is a movie about a dinosaur theme park, like "Jurassic Park." But this one is fully open to the public and successful. Researchers at the park create a bigger and better dinosaur to bring more business to the park. This dinosaur is genetically modified.The researchers use a secret mix of DNA from several other especially vicious dinosaurs and other animals. The result is a really big, really mean animal with no social skills. And, of course, it escapes its cage.

Some movie critics praised "Jurassic World" as exciting with great special effects even as they dismissed the film's plot as "stupid." But many agreed the movie does not measure up to the first "Jurassic" directed by Steven Spielberg.

There were also scientific critics of the dinosaur movie. The website LiveScience.com talked to seven paleontologists to get their opinions on "Jurassic World.

One scientist wrote "you can find depictions of prehistoric life that are more accurate and more interesting." Another noted more accurate representations of dinosaurs would not have sacrificed the story. All the scientist-critics wondered where are the dinosaur feathers? Overall, the group agreed the film was fun. But the science, they said, was weak.

An image from "Jurassic World" became a popular meme on social media. In it, a "Jurassic World" park worker is holding his arms out to three mean-looking dinosaurs as he "trains" them to behave. Zoo workers, farmers and others have posted similar images of themselves on Facebook. They can be seen taming ferocious creatures like chickens, pigs and giraffes.

People continue to flood showings of "Jurassic World." But it could see some serious competition Saturday when "Ted 2" opens. The first movie about the talking teddy bear came out in 2012 and made $50 million on its opening weekend. The latest version is expected to make even more.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Caty Weaver wrote this for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

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Words in This Story

modify v. to change some parts of (something) while not changing other parts

cage n. a box made of wire or metal bars in which people keep animals

plot n. a series of events that form the story in a novel, movie, etc.

ferocious n. very fierce or violent

Do you like action movies? Do you enjoy imagined stories mixed with scientific facts? Tell us what you think in the comments section.