10 biggest movies of 2018
4. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Listen. Who didn’t scream a little at the sight of Jeff Goldblum, aka Ian Malcolm, rocking that black turtleneck silver fox look in the trailers for the latest installment in the Jurassic Park franchise? Don’t lie. You know you did. But even though Goldblum’s screen time is short and the overall reviews of the movie fairly tepid, Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom made this top ten list with a comfortable margin, coming in at $416 million at the end of the year.
However, compared to the success of Jurassic World in 2015, that’s actually falling flat. The first Jurassic World garnered an impressive $652 million domestically; Fallen Kingdom’s total falls short of that by a third. Plus, the reviews are much less favorable for this most recent installment than they were for the first Jurassic World; they were far from rave reviews back then, too. Overall, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was clearly a financial success, or it wouldn’t have made this list. However, its premise is poorly executed, and the nostalgia well of the previous Jurassic Park movies may be running dry.
Like The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the premise of Fallen Kingdom involves a team of scientists investigating a threat to the dinosaurs now free from the park’s enclosures, with the ultimate goal of taking them off the island. Where the thrill factor of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World comes from getting to see the dinosaurs break loose and wreak havoc, both sequels offer the pleasure of getting to see the dinosaurs “wild.” In one the dinosaurs come crashing into our world; in the other, we are intruders in theirs.
Certainly Fallen Kingdom is darker than Jurassic World, but in the end using more practical effects and a more gothic flair couldn’t salvage a messy plot and flat characters. But the third part of the Jurassic World trilogy is still slated for 2021, so whether the series will continue its downward trend or learn from its mistakes remains to be seen. It’s a given, however, that it will make a lot of money.