Jurassic Park needs to avoid this tradition if we are seeing a beginning of another trilogy with Jurassic World Rebirth

Jurassic Park films have roared at the box office since the T. rex walked out of that electric fence and scared the hell out of Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards) in 1993. But a pattern emerged — one that feels more like a tradition future films need to break, especially with the potential new trilogy starting with Jurassic World: Rebirth.

There are two trilogies in the franchise: the original, released between 1993 and 2001, and then another one, Jurassic World, where the three movies were released between 2015 and 2022. Looking at the two trilogies, their critical scores have declined — from good to bad to worse. They came, they saw, they conquered, but not for long.

The upcoming movie directed by Gareth Edwards is also the fourth film in the Jurassic World franchise, but this is an entirely new story. With Dominion (2022), that world was lost. Now it's time to begin a new tradition if it's going to become another trilogy.

Both the Jurassic Park trilogies have seen their kingdom falling

Jurassic World Dominion has the lowest critical rating in the franchise. (Image via Universal Pictures)

It began with, of course, the Steven Spielberg movie in 1993, widely regarded as the best film in the franchise. It currently holds a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes. You can always go back to it and come back thrilled after it has finished.

The second film, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), wasn't exactly a critical success like the first one. Though it established this world in the world of cinema, it failed to establish itself in the hearts of the fans. It currently holds a 52% critics’ approval rating. That's not fresh.

Then came the final installment of the original trilogy, Jurassic Park III. Critics even said that the Steven Spielberg wizardry is gone. Well, of course, it is gone. He wasn't there to direct the film. He was replaced with Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) director Joe Johnston, and the third film ended up with a 49% score. After that, there was a halt for 14 years until the franchise was renewed.

With Jurassic World, things were looking different. The legendary Jurassic Park had now become Jurassic World. Dinosaurs were being trained like K-9s. Chris Pratt's Owen Grady became the new protagonist of the film and it ended up with 72% critics’ approval. Things certainly were looking good as it felt like a breath of fresh air.

However, the film's sequel proved this wrong just after three years. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) saw a downturn in its rating and got a 47% critics’ score. Owen Grady and Claire Dearing were on a mission to save the remaining dinosaurs. They did save them but failed to save the movie.

And finally, it was just recently, in 2022, to be precise, that the franchise again saw a similar fate as the original trilogy. Jurassic World Dominion ended up with just a 29% score at Rotten Tomatoes, making it the worst-rated movie in the entire franchise.

Now, it’s up to Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and her team to sway the franchise away from this pattern and give us a new trilogy that will feel as fresh — or even fresher — than Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy.

Jurassic World: Rebirth will release on July 2, 2025.