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The sequels to Jurassic Park were never in a position to live up to the expectations set by the original. In the 30 years that have passed since the Steven Spielberg film hit theaters, Jurassic Park has led to a total of five sequels. But even after all that time, it’s still the 1993 movie that’s universally considered the pinnacle of the franchise.
The Jurassic Park series, which seemingly came to an end with 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion, experienced tremendous financial success across two separate movie trilogies. All six installments performed well at the box office, with some bringing in significantly higher numbers than others. In fact, all three of the Jurassic World movies managed to crack the impressive $1 billion mark. However, the movies’ box office performance isn’t necessarily a reflection of how they’ve been received. Three of the five sequels have critics’ scores of less than 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, and while they’ve generally been viewed in a more favorable light by audiences, none have managed to come close to the reputation of the original movie.
Jurassic Park Sequels Shouldn’t Have Happened (It Never Needed Them)
Story-wise, Jurassic Park’s sequels weren’t necessary. Ultimately, it’s the underlying premise behind the movie that made it a one-and-done concept. The story of dinosaurs in a theme park attacking humans in the present-day is what defined the 1993 movie and what made it stand out. For the most part, sequels to Jurassic Park have just been different takes on the same formula. Several of the movies, like Jurassic World Dominion, attempted to find ways to shake things up and raise the stakes, but in the end, they’re all built around the same idea.
Colin Trevorrow, who directed the three Jurassic World films, summed up the issue that holds back the sequels when he admitted that there “probably should have only been one Jurassic Park,” which he then called an “inherently unfranchisable” movie. He cited this as his reason for unleashing the dinosaurs upon all of human society in Jurassic World Dominion, thus making it the only sequel of the five to feel like a deviation of the classic Jurassic Park formula on any level. The fact that this has only been done once demonstrates the limitations of a Jurassic Park sequel, but the reality is that even Dominion was essentially just a larger-scale version of the Jurassic Park story.
