Jurassic World Rebirthis another attempt at reviving the dinosaur franchise, but it comes with mixed results - especially where its reviews and Rotten Tomatoes score are concerned. Steven Spielberg’s original is blockbuster perfection, but the otherJurassic ParkandWorldmovieshaven’t scaled those same dizzying heights.
Rebirthsticks pretty close to the original roadmap in its efforts to deliver something akin to Spielberg’s masterpiece: it goes back to an island - not Site A nor Site B, but a new InGen test site - and has a few scenes that attempt to capture the same horror and awe as the first movie, though it doesn’t always succeed.
It’s unclear where the franchise will go afterJurassic World Rebirth’s ending, though its opening box office suggests there will definitely be sequels (as if it was in doubt). Nonetheless, while audiences may be responding well to it - and in a sense, that’s all that matters here - it does continue a disappointing trend in terms of critical appraisal.
Jurassic World Rebirth’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Compared To The Jurassic Franchise
It’s Not The Best, But Far From The Worst
At the time of writing,Jurassic World Rebirthhas a critics' score of 51%onRotten Tomatoes, making the movie “rotten” on the platform. In contrast, it has a more respectable 72% audience score. Though 51% is not agoodscore for a movie by any means, it’s actually far from the franchise’s worst, and not even in the bottom three.
91%
56%
52%
49%
37%
72%
78%
47%
48%
29%
77%
51%
Through seven entries,theJurassicfranchise has just two movies that carry a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And even of those, only one is a clear unanimous hit, withJurassic World’s 72% still somewhat mixed.
Though it’s one of the biggest franchises of all time, its RT average critics score now stands at 56.4%.
Though it’s one of the biggest franchises of all time, its RT average critics score now stands at 56.4%. Even with audiences, that average only goes up to 65%, and that’s helped byRebirthbeing among the more divisive entries among critics and audiences in the series.
It’s A Franchise Made From One Great Movie
Jurassic’s sequel issues, like so many franchises and IPs, can be attributed to a simple thing - to borrow a quote from Ian Malcolm, studio executives were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should.
The average RT score for the sixJurassicsequels is just 50.6%.
There’s little inJurassic Parkthat sets the stage for a sequel, let alone six of them. Regardless of the title form of the rebooted series, there’s no real “world” here, but simply one contained story that, with the help of arguably the best blockbuster filmmaker to ever live, became one of thegreatest movies of all time.
EvenThe Lost Worldonly really exists because of the success of Spielberg’s classic, with increased calls for a sequel and Michael Crichton then eventually cracking a story idea. Even in the books, it wasn’t planned to be more than one story.
Certainly, [the franchise] has never, and probably will never, come anywhere close to the original.
It was simply never built to be a franchise, and has stretched things so far that it’s no surprise the critical returns aren’t great. That’s not to say these movies are all bad -Rebirthis actually solidly entertaining, but that’s not necessarily the same as it beinggood. Certainly, it has never, and probably will never, come anywhere close to the original.
Despite Its Critical Scores, Jurassic Is A Guaranteed Box Office Winner
The Franchise Continues To Be Bulletproof
It’s easy to look at things like Rotten Tomatoes scores - or, hell, just watch some of these movies (especially something likeDominion) - and conclude that all these sequels shouldn’t have happened. Even the audience scores don’t suggest peoplelovingthem.
And then the box office flies in the face of all that. It had already made $6 billion across six movies; afterJurassic World Rebirth’s global opening weekendeasily cleared $300m,you wouldn’t bet against the franchise total crossing the $7bn barrier before summer is over.
Clearly, kids and adults alike will still turn out to be entertained by a blockbuster like this.
It’s whyJurassic World Rebirth’s plot point that people aren’t interested in dinosaurs doesn’t hold up, and why the constant need for things like mutant dinosaurs is frustrating. Clearly, kids and adults alike will still turn out to be entertained by a blockbuster like this.
Dinosaurs are dino-mite at the box office, with mass appeal, a nostalgic love for one true classic, and the promise of a fun (if sometimes dumb) two-hour ride that’ll hopefully offer enough thrills to be worthwhile. Wherever the franchise goes afterJurassic World Rebirth, it’s a guarantee that, regardless of quality, it will never go extinct.
