1993 was a significant year for Steven Spielberg, as two of the best films of his legendary career were released. Historical drama Schindler’s List earned widespread acclaim en route to its Oscar wins, but a handful of months earlier, Spielberg once again reinvented the summer blockbuster. June 1993 saw the premiere of Jurassic Park , which wowed audiences with its revolutionary visual effects (that still hold up today, over 30 years later) and thought-provoking themes about man meddling with nature. Unsurprisingly, Jurassic Park was a monster hit at the box office, kicking off a new sci-fi franchise. It took a few years, but eventually the follow-up arrived. On May 23, 1997, The Lost World: Jurassic Park opened in theaters. Like its predecessor, the sequel was a massive box office hit, raking in $618.6 million worldwide. However, it wasn’t nearly as well-received critically. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is a mixed 57%, a far cry from the original’s 91%. However, over the years, The Lost World ‘s overall reputation has improved a bit , especially as the Jurassic Park franchise has struggled to recapture the magic over the years. The Lost World Is the Best Jurassic Park Sequel Many Hollywood franchises have spawned multiple memorable installments, but it’s hard to make the case Jurassic Park is one of them. Since the first film debuted, the series has struggled mightily from a critical perspective, with 2015’s Jurassic World the only of the six follow-ups to be fresh on Rotten Tomatoes (72%). This is all to say, the bar for “best Jurassic Park sequel” is not exactly high, but even though its Rotten Tomatoes score lower, The Lost World: Jurassic Park clears the competition and is the greatest of the bunch . It’s no coincidence that The Lost World is the only Jurassic Park sequel that Spielberg directed. The iconic filmmaker is unparalleled when it comes to crafting big-screen spectacle, and The Lost World sees him serving up an abundance of genre thrills to entertain audiences. While The Lost World plays like a retread of its predecessor at times, there are enough differences that help it stand out. For starters, Spielberg embraced a darker tone, leaning more into elements of horror. This helped the terrifying sequences of dinosaurs eating people (particularly Eddie’s gruesome death) resonate strongly with viewers. Spielberg knew exactly what audiences wanted in a Jurassic Park sequel and delivered it in spades. Read Next I Still Want to See the Original Version of Jurassic Park III The pure magic of Jurassic Park is something that could only be achieved once. There was a sense of genuine awe and wonder that came from seeing dinosaurs on screen for the first time, which is a feeling impossible to replicate. Still, Spielberg understood there were ways to convey similar feelings. It should come as no surprise that The Lost World features some dinosaur species that were absent in the original. This allowed the sequel to have a little bit of novelty, as it was cool to see the likes of the Stegosaurus and more on the big screen. One of the oldest tricks in the sequel playbook is “go bigger,” and in this regard, Spielberg hit the nail on the head. The scope of The Lost World is suitably large, and the combination of that and the horror aspects makes for a fun ride. This isn’t to say The Lost World is a perfect film. It still has plenty of polarizing moments, including the gymnast vs. raptor showdown and the San Diego climax that fans are still trying to make sense of . But these parts are preferable to some of the narrative threads explored in the later Jurassic World movies (human cloning, locust infestation), and they don’t truly detract from what’s an otherwise thrilling roller coaster ride. If there was going to be a Jurassic Park sequel, The Lost World is the way to do it. But therein lies the problem. There didn’t need to be a Jurassic Park sequel. Jurassic Park Didn’t Need to Become a Franchise Image Courtesy of Universal Purely from a business perspective, making a Jurassic Park sequel was a no-brainer. After the first film broke box office records, there was no way studio executives were going to let a lucrative IP collect dust on the shelf. However, from a storytelling perspective, a Jurassic Park follow-up made little sense. The original film is very much a standalone, self-contained narrative that’s fully wrapped up by the time the credits roll. The entire central conflict at the center of the movie is resolved. It’s abundantly clear that man should not have attempted to clone dinosaurs. Even John Hammond agrees his dream theme park was a bad idea. This wasn’t a case like Star Wars , which left some dangling threads and had a rich in-universe mythology to explore, or Marvel, which has decades upon decades of source material to draw from. For all intents and purposes, Jurassic Park was conceived as a one-and-done sci-fi morality tale. Michael Crichton’s original novel was published in 1990, and he withstood fan pressure to write a sequel. It wasn’t until after the movie became a success and Spielberg started to pursue a follow-up that Crichton wrote The Lost World , which was the only sequel he published. So, The Lost World was born purely out of the desire to make a Jurassic Park sequel movie. Read Next 5 Sci-Fi Franchises That Peaked With the Very First Movie The biggest hurdle all of the Jurassic Park sequels (including The Lost World ) have faced is that there really isn’t anywhere for the story to go. The first film essentially said everything there was to say about the premise. And while subsequent installments looked to add some fresh wrinkles (a second island, a fully functioning amusement park), that arguably wasn’t enough. Even the dinosaur hybrids that became a staple of the Jurassic World movies have lost their luster . It’s because everything keeps circling back to the same conclusion: humans shouldn’t play god and try to bring dinosaurs back to life. There’s little new in terms of theme and narrative that’s being tackled. Fortunately, it seems like Universal may have come to that understanding. Even after Jurassic World Rebirth became a box office hit last summer, the studio has not officially announced another sequel yet . This indicates that they are taking their time (assuming another installment is in development) and making sure they have a strong enough story that’s worth telling before moving forward. The property has always been a consistent moneymaker, but the reviews have been showing signs of franchise fatigue for a while. Hopefully, the next time audiences go to Jurassic Park , it’ll rival the seminal original in terms of box office and quality. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum ! 6 Sci-Fi Movies That Are Better Than the Book