10 Franchises That Peaked With The First Movie

2. Jurassic Park

To be fair, not many blockbusters in history can hold a candle to Jurassic Park, which is undoubtedly one of the most expertly-crafted examples of populist entertainment ever to come out of Hollywood.

With the countless billions generated from the box office and merchandising sales, a sequel was always inevitable. Even with Steven Spielberg returning behind the camera, The Lost World was a huge disappointment. It may boast several standout set-pieces that rival those found in the original, but it also falls victim to by-the-numbers plotting, paper-thin characters and lacks the sense of wonder and adventure that made its predecessor so unforgettable.

Joe Johnston's Jurassic Park III recycled the 'back to the island' narrative again in a formulaic yet mercifully brief threequel that continued the critical and commercial decline of the franchise, making it painfully obvious that the series was running out of ideas. And it also gave us this, which is ironically the most memorable part of the movie.

Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom may have offered the novelty of seeing the park up and running and then getting blown the f**k up respectively, as well as earning over a billion dollars apiece at the box office, but both suffer from virtually the same problems; weak writing and characterization, idiotic plot points and CGI-overloaded action without any real weight or dramatic tension.

Movies about dinosaur theme parks are never going to be regarded as critically-acclaimed cinematic masterpieces, but Spielberg's original shows that if you try hard enough you can at least come pretty damn close.