For more than three decades, Jurassic Park has been one of the biggest franchises in pop culture. Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Michael Crichton’s original novel was a massive blockbuster hit that revolutionized the film industry, opening the door for a bevy of follow-ups (although, a case can be made that Jurassic Park should have stopped at one installment). Following the success of the first movie, there were two direct sequels, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, released in 1997 and 2001. After that, the property was dormant for nearly 15 years before it came back with a bang.
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2015 saw the debut of Jurassic World, a soft reboot built around the premise of “what if the theme park was actually operational?” Like the seminal 1993 classic, it too broke box office records and paved the way for future installments. The second Jurassic World follow-up, Jurassic World Dominion, was released four years ago on June 10, 2022, and in many ways, it marked the end of an era for the long-running franchise.
Jurassic World Dominion Needed to Close a Chapter of Jurassic Park History
The main selling point of Jurassic Park has always been the dinosaurs, but the original film continues to resonate all these years later because of the cast of memorable characters as well. The likes of Ian Malcolm and Alan Grant returned to headline the first two sequels, but when it came time for Jurassic World, it was decided that some fresh blood was needed. Chris Pratt (whose career took off after Guardians of the Galaxy) and Bryce Dallas Howard were brought in as the new leads. The two reprised their roles across the entire original Jurassic World trilogy, with Dominion marking their final appearance.
While Jurassic World was always a reliable box office draw (the first three World movies each made over $1 billion), a convincing argument can be made that it was time to close the book on this particular era by the time Dominion came around. As the trilogy went on, critical reception only got worse. Jurassic World stands at a respectable 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, but Fallen Kingdom dropped to 47% and Dominion was at 28%. Outside of the general premise of dino mayhem being played out, much criticism was lobbied at the storytelling in the World movies, particularly as the sequels brought concepts like human cloning and locust infestations to the franchise. Jurassic Park was never known for its deep narrative, but it still told a compelling cautionary tale with some thought-provoking themes. By contrast, Jurassic World was never as satisfying on that level.
A main reason for that is the new characters introduced in Jurassic World never caught on with viewers as much as the classic trio of Grant, Malcolm, and Ellie Sadler. Pratt’s Owen Grady and Howard’s Claire Dearing were effective enough for the purposes of a summer blockbuster, but the parts came across as thinly written without much for audiences to get invested in (outside of Owen’s dynamic with velociraptor Blue). Even though Jurassic World was a commercial success, you got the feeling Universal sensed the new characters didn’t fully click because they immediately went for the nostalgia play of bringing back Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm in Fallen Kingdom. The actor has just a small role in that movie, but his minimal screen time was heavily featured in marketing to generate interest.
Dominion pushed all the nostalgia chips to the middle of the table by putting together a reunion of the original trio, teaming Grant, Malcolm, and Sadler up with Owen and Claire. This was another way the film marked the end of an era for Jurassic Park, as odds are Dominion was the last time Goldblum, Sam Neill, and Laura Dern will have main roles to play in a new Jurassic movie — which is probably also for the best because established franchises can only lean on the past for so long before things start to get stale. As fun as it was to see the classic Jurassic actors back in action, Dominion wasn’t the triumphant return fans were hoping for (from a storytelling perspective, at least), which is a shame.
A New Era of Jurassic World Is Here (But What Is Its Future?)
Jurassic World Dominion might have marked the end of an era for two chapters of Jurassic Park history, but it wasn’t the end of the franchise altogether. When an IP consistently rakes in $1 billion worldwide, the studio isn’t going to let it sit on a shelf for long. Last summer saw the release of Jurassic World Rebirth, which brought in a new cast of human characters to face off against the dinosaurs. The filmmakers spared no expense on the ensemble, recruiting a two-time Oscar winner (Mahershala Ali), a two-time Oscar nominee and former Marvel star (Scarlett Johansson), and one of the industry’s rising talents (Jonathan Bailey) to headline. With Rogue One director Gareth Edwards at the helm, there was once again an impressive collection of talent on both sides of the camera.
Still, Jurassic World Rebirth endured the same fate as most installments in this series. The reviews were mixed; the Rotten Tomatoes critics score stands at 50%. That’s an improvement over Dominion, but it hardly makes Rebirth a critical darling. Once again, the narrative was considered a weak point, with a thin plot and characters struggling to complement the admittedly well-constructed set pieces (Edwards has always been a master of portraying scale on screen). What’s more is that Rebirth was the lowest-grossing of the four World movies, earning $869.1 million worldwide. That figure isn’t anything to sneeze at (Rebirth still turned a profit), but it’s notable that it didn’t cross $1 billion like its predecessors.
A handful of months after Jurassic World Rebirth debuted, there were reports indicating that Universal was developing a sequel, with Johansson, Ali, and Bailey all returning. That project has yet to be officially announced, however, suggesting that if a Jurassic World 5 is happening, the studio is being patient. That approach is arguably for the best. As we’ve illustrated, the Jurassic Park franchise has always made money, but there still needs to be a worthwhile story to tell. That’s an area where the franchise has consistently struggled since the original, so the filmmakers could be taking extra time to iron out a concept that’s strong enough, ideally giving Jurassic a shot in the arm. Rebirth‘s box office numbers were strong, but one interpretation is that they’re a sign that franchise fatigue could be settling in.
It’ll be interesting to see where Jurassic World goes from here. Assuming Fast & Furious truly ends after 2028’s Fast Forever, Universal is going to be in need of a reliable tentpole franchise. Jurassic certainly fits that mold, so the safe money would be on the series continuing in one way or another. Hopefully, this era of the franchise is stronger from a storytelling perspective, giving audiences a collection of characters they can really care about as they take in the awe of the action sequences.
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