In this post I am looking at the critical and commercial success of the Jurassic Park/World movie series. The series includes: Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park III (2001), Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and Jurassic World: Dominion (2022).
Using data from the websites Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb and Box Office Mojo, I am going to weigh up the financial success and the critical achievements of the series. I will then work out the rankings accordingly.
The big question is, will these rankings reflect how you would ultimately rank the ‘Jurassic’ films? Let’s see.
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Ranking the ‘Jurassic’ movies according to Rotten Tomatoes
According to Rotten Tomatoes, here are the current ratings for each movie, starting with the highest score and working down:
- Jurassic Park – 92%
- Jurassic World – 71%
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park – 53%
- Jurassic Park III – 49%
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – 47%
- Jurassic World: Dominion – 31%
As you can see, Jurassic Park ranks the highest with a score of 92%. Jurassic World: Dominion ranks the lowest with a score of 31%.
Now, let’s compare the above scores with IMDB’s ratings.
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Ranking the ‘Jurassic’ movies according to IMDb
According to IMDb, here are the current ratings for each movie:
- Jurassic Park – 8.2/10
- Jurassic World – 6.9/10
- The Lost World: Jurassic World – 6.9/10
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – 6.1/10
- Jurassic World: Dominion – 6.0/10
- Jurassic Park III – 5.9/10
In this list, Jurassic Park ranks the highest once again, while Jurassic Park III ranks the lowest. As you can see, the IMDb list is quite similar to the Rotten Tomatoes list, suggesting the critical rankings of the films are fairly consistent.
Now let’s take a look at the financial returns of each movie, according to Box Office Mojo.
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Ranking the ‘Jurassic’ movies according to Box Office Mojo
The films rank as follows:
- Jurassic World – $1,671,537,444
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – $1,310,466,296
- Jurassic Park – $1,099,699,003
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park – $618,638,999
- Jurassic Park III – $368,780,809
- Jurassic World: Dominion – STILL ON RELEASE
As you can see, when it comes to finances the list of rankings changes, with Jurassic World appearing at the top of the list, followed by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Jurassic Park (which has had multiple re-releases) is next, followed by The Lost World.
Jurassic Park III is the least successful film at the box office.
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What does this information tell us?
Well, first and foremost, according to Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB and Box Office Mojo, Jurassic Park III doesn’t tend to fair well, both critically or commercially. On the flipside, Jurassic World and Jurassic Park tend to fair the best – usually appearing towards the top of each ranking.
In terms of consistency, The Lost World: Jurassic Park takes the spot for being the ‘middle of the road’ entry, with critical ratings just above the mid-point and a fair box office result.
What is interesting to note, is that while Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is not viewed as a strong movie critically, from a financial point of view it is successful.
But do any of these sets of rankings match up with how YOU would rank the Jurassic Park/World movies? Ultimately, despite what the likes of Rotten Tomatoes or Box Office Mojo say, it only really matters what you think of each film.
For me personally, I would place the series in this order:
- Jurassic Park
- Jurassic World
- Jurassic Park III
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
- Jurassic World: Dominion
Jurassic Park is my ultimate ‘Jurassic’ movie because it feels timeless and even after all these years, I still get excited watching it. Personally, I think Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a misstep for the series, while Jurassic World: Dominion is my least favourite.
I have placed Jurassic Park III in the middle as I believe it deserves a heck of a lot more credit than it ever receives. Apart from being a little too short (the finale could have benefited from another 10-20 minutes), I think Jurassic Park III is a solid adventure movie.
But what do you think? How would you rank the ‘Jurassic’ movies? Sound off in the comments section and let me know.
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