Shouldn't this franchise be larger then it currently is right now?

One of the biggest things that bothers me about the Jurassic Park franchise coming back is that it hasn't been expanded as it currently is. Case in point: Jurassic World made over $1.65 billion and besides this sequel, Universal has barely done anything with that money to expand the franchise. Just t-shirts, 2 video games (Lego JW and this new game which will basically be JP:OG 2.0) a book about Claire, a few websites and that's it.

This bothers me because when I look at the MCU/Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek, they continue to expand the brands. Star Wars has always had books, comic books, and magazines that have expanded upon that series, which continues to this day. Star Trek has always been like that too. As for the MCU, they have had always built upon their success and have been an unstoppable juggernaut since the first Avengers movie. I see magazines, toys, animated TV shows, products glore about Marvel. I work in retail (blah) and I see Star Wars and Marvel on a pretty common basis.

The expansion of the JP franchise since JW's success has been minuscule in comparison. I mean, we should be getting a comic book series, a cartoon that ties in the first JP trilogy with this new one like Star Wars: Rebels does with the prequels and the OT, more books about more of the characters.

This franchise used to be a powerhouse back in the 1990's, and that was in spite of Steven Spielberg refusing a JP cartoon show back then. Yet, despite that, we still had toys, comic books, video games, and JP stuff all over the place. But after JP3, we barely got anything. 2 video games that bombed financially-one of which tried to be canon, but barely was semi-canon at most-, a comic book series which was kind of a flop, and a few toys lines that only made a few good toys-The 2009 Bull T. rex retool, the 2013 Allosaurus (which was a ripoff of the 2008 Papo Allosaurus which is still in production and is far cheaper to get) and the 2013 Pachyrhinosaurus)

It just comes across that Universal had no plan in place what to do with this franchise if JW was success and it shows via lack thereof. This should be a mega-franchise, or at least a franchise trying to become one. It just feels like Universal is letting most of this potential just go the waste.

Anybody else felling as disgruntled as I am?

Yes. Trouble is >>> Steven Spielberg. He calls the shots. That's why we never got the cartoons, that JW Survivor game and so on.

Most things still have to go through him and that is a big problem. Universal should simply do as they please.

Spielberg never wanted his life consumed by Jurassic like Lucas' life was with Star Wars. Spielberg saw what Star Wars did to his friend Lucas, and said he didn't want that for himself. He wanted to be free to make any movie he wanted and not be chained by a humongous franchise.

Jurassic Park is inherently limited in what can happen, though. Moreso than Star Wars or especially Marvel. Yes, I agree that Uni is missing out on millions by failing to capitalize on the merchandising potential, but as far as films go... no, I’m glad they’re limited to what we’re getting.

Marvel puts out movie after movie that people keep seeing, but I’m not one of them. The whole MCU has this tinge of forgetability to it, because even though the movies are consistently good, there are too damn many and they feel like an in-theater TV series. Over saturation cheapens brands and lessens the artistic and cultural impact of individual releases. Just ask Call of Duty.

Star Wars doesn’t have this problem to nearly the same degree... yet. That’s because the Disney ship is still taking off, and we’ve only gotten one per year. Despite this, Lucasfilm’s astonishing lack of planning and sound judgment has already made the brand feel stale. Rogue One was the only film they’ve made that I’d call great. The Force Awakens played it overly safe, while The Last Jedi was daring yet mediocre as a film and disasterous to the Star Wars universe. And don’t get me started on that glossy Han Solo prequel.

And that brings me back to Jurassic Park. People talk about a potential prequel- no! The whole point of Hammond was that a few incidents were happening during construction, but he pressed on because he was still under the illusion of control. The 1993 disaster is what shattered that illusion. If you make a prequel where a large scale disaster actually happens for Hammond to see, you’re fundamentally changing the character, whose actor is by the way, as irreplaceable as Harrison Ford’s Han Solo.

If we get more trilogies, a TV show, or something else, it should be done as a retelling. That would be a great chance to introduce Ted Levine, feathered dinosaurs, change the age, race, and gender of a few characters to really shake things up, and stick more closely to the novels. But like the Amazon Prime Lord of the Rings series, it would have to happen after the second film trilogy has come to an end.

I'm still wondering what the hell happened to Jurassic World Survivor.

I think Jurassic Park has plenty of potential for more stories and it's relying on Fallen Kingdom to properly bridge into the new territory. Then we can have stories involving different companies having dino tech, Dinos in mainland integrating into natural ecosystem etc. It's all reliant on Fallen Kingdom, though. If the film does really badly, then they might scrap their initial idea for the rest of the franchise.

Also, I feel like maybe Universal is quite hesitant to give anyone full control over the franchise because it's the only hard hitter they have.

Jurassic World Survivor was canceled because Universal didn’t want a game where you wantonly shoot dinosaurs with automatic weapons. I guess the concern was that it would lessen their presence in the movies.

BoulderFaceplant wrote:

Jurassic World Survivor was canceled because Universal didn’t want a game where you wantonly shoot dinosaurs with automatic weapons. I guess the concern was that it would lessen their presence in the movies.

I thought everyone thought it was cancelled but the game just got transferred to another studio or something. I'm pretty sure I saw Chris Pugh share some info regarding it. I think they renewed a domain for it?

Perhaps, but if it ever comes out, it’s not going to incorporate so many guns. The whole game probably needed to be rebuilt as such.

BoulderFaceplant wrote:

Perhaps, but if it ever comes out, it’s not going to incorporate so many guns. The whole game probably needed to be rebuilt as such.

Yeah maybe. I think they could do the game without guns. Kinda like Alien Isolation. Although, the game didn't really look like that in the leaks.

CT-1138 wrote:

Spielberg never wanted his life consumed by Jurassic like Lucas' life was with Star Wars. Spielberg saw what Star Wars did to his friend Lucas, and said he didn't want that for himself. He wanted to be free to make any movie he wanted and not be chained by a humongous franchise.

CT is on point here actually. Spielberg threw out a lot of road blocks towards JP as a franchise to flourish simply because he was inundated with the whole thing. While that isn't necessarily a terrible and horrible thing it really has worked to stunt the growth of the franchise altogether overall.

As I said in another thread, Spielberg is a movie director and not a franchise director. Being he is friends with George Lucas he got a first row seat to what being a franchise director would entail. I think the fact Spielberg shut a lot of stuff down is why the films didn't go the route of the JAWS series that Spielberg also originally directed. It's possible Spielberg holds a candle to the JP series and why he's blocked so many different projects to it out of fear of what happened with the JAWS series possibly? I don't know too much about the JAWS franchise aside from how it progressively got worse and went to F-movie territory.

Good call if you ask me. It’s good to try new stuff instead of settle on just the one franchise like Mr. Lucas did. It’s this strategy that helps make Jurassic Park stand out.

BoulderFaceplant wrote:

Jurassic Park is inherently limited in what can happen, though. Moreso than Star Wars or especially Marvel. Yes, I agree that Uni is missing out on millions by failing to capitalize on the merchandising potential, but as far as films go... no, I’m glad they’re limited to what we’re getting.

Marvel puts out movie after movie that people keep seeing, but I’m not one of them. The whole MCU has this tinge of forgetability to it, because even though the movies are consistently good, there are too damn many and they feel like an in-theater TV series. Over saturation cheapens brands and lessens the artistic and cultural impact of individual releases. Just ask Call of Duty.

Star Wars doesn’t have this problem to nearly the same degree... yet. That’s because the Disney ship is still taking off, and we’ve only gotten one per year. Despite this, Lucasfilm’s astonishing lack of planning and sound judgment has already made the brand feel stale. Rogue One was the only film they’ve made that I’d call great. The Force Awakens played it overly safe, while The Last Jedi was daring yet mediocre as a film and disasterous to the Star Wars universe. And don’t get me started on that glossy Han Solo prequel.

And that brings me back to Jurassic Park. People talk about a potential prequel- no! The whole point of Hammond was that a few incidents were happening during construction, but he pressed on because he was still under the illusion of control. The 1993 disaster is what shattered that illusion. If you make a prequel where a large scale disaster actually happens for Hammond to see, you’re fundamentally changing the character, whose actor is by the way, as irreplaceable as Harrison Ford’s Han Solo.

If we get more trilogies, a TV show, or something else, it should be done as a retelling. That would be a great chance to introduce Ted Levine, feathered dinosaurs, change the age, race, and gender of a few characters to really shake things up, and stick more closely to the novels. But like the Amazon Prime Lord of the Rings series, it would have to happen after the second film trilogy has come to an end.

I don’t really want something before the events of the original. But I’d like a movie on Sorna that is a prequel, and I’d love a movie that takes place between JP3 and JW.

Sobek wrote:

Yes. Trouble is >>> Steven Spielberg. He calls the shots. That's why we never got the cartoons, that  JW Survivor game and so on.

Most things still have to go through him and that is a big problem. Universal should simply do as they please.

TyrannosaurTJ wrote:

CT-1138 wrote:

Spielberg never wanted his life consumed by Jurassic like Lucas' life was with Star Wars. Spielberg saw what Star Wars did to his friend Lucas, and said he didn't want that for himself. He wanted to be free to make any movie he wanted and not be chained by a humongous franchise.

CT is on point here actually. Spielberg threw out a lot of road blocks towards JP as a franchise to flourish simply because he was inundated with the whole thing. While that isn't necessarily a terrible and horrible thing it really has worked to stunt the growth of the franchise altogether overall.

As I said in another thread, Spielberg is a movie director and not a franchise director. Being he is friends with George Lucas he got a first row seat to what being a franchise director would entail. I think the fact Spielberg shut a lot of stuff down is why the films didn't go the route of the JAWS series that Spielberg also originally directed. It's possible Spielberg holds a candle to the JP series and why he's blocked so many different projects to it out of fear of what happened with the JAWS series possibly? I don't know too much about the JAWS franchise aside from how it progressively got worse and went to F-movie territory.

I don't get something. If Spielberg didn't want to be tied to a big franchise, then why in the world is he even still a part of the Jurassic Park franchise? And how did he get to wield so much power? Not only that, but can't Universal just simply fire him by now? I mean, he barely does anything as Executive Producer. Look at how he's overseen how the Transformers movie franchise get run into the ground ever since the first sequel. Not only that, but I'm sorry, he just doesn't have it anymore and his heart isn't in it either. Yeah, he can make good historical movies, but that's about it. He's lost his touch. Not only that, but he doesn't have his pulse on what people want anymore.

I hate to say it, but he's kind of a has-been now. It makes no sense to keep him on. He's only in it for the money. He needs to go.

Umm, I don’t think Universal is ready to pass the torch from Spielberg to someone else yet.

deinocoop wrote:

Umm, I don’t think Universal is ready to pass the torch from Spielberg to someone else yet.

If they really want this franchise to be as large as Star Wars or the MCU, then they might not have a choice but to. Make David Koepp, the screenwriter for the first 2 movies the Kevin Feige of this franchise.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

I don't get something. If Spielberg didn't want to be tied to a big franchise, then why in the world is he even still a part of the Jurassic Park franchise? And how did he get to wield so much power? Not only that, but can't Universal just simply fire him by now? I mean, he barely does anything as Executive Producer. Look at how he's overseen how the Transformers movie franchise get run into the ground ever since the first sequel. Not only that, but I'm sorry, he just doesn't have it anymore and his heart isn't in it either. Yeah, he can make good historical movies, but that's about it. He's lost his touch. Not only that, but he doesn't have his pulse on what people want anymore.

I hate to say it, but he's kind of a has-been now. It makes no sense to keep him on. He's only in it for the money. He needs to go.

I think it is the fact he had a big friendship with Michael Crichton and that had a lot to do with him retaining the control he's had over it so far. Outside of that I doubt Uni wants to "fire" Spielberg due to his well-earned good reputation for making films despite his obstructionism of the franchise and it limiting the growth of it altogether. Outside of that I do think he's trying to pass the torch over to Trevorrow while maintaining a hold on it so he can walk away from it saying he did what he could to keep it pure. I think a lot of how rationalizes the situation is due to his experience with the JAWS franchise and that's a lot of the reason for his obstructionism aside from being simply inundated with it all back when people tried to go nuts with the marketing. Spielberg's apathy though is insanely problematic, especially in the case with the Transformers franchise and Michael Bay who is literally a jerk.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

deinocoop wrote:

Umm, I don’t think Universal is ready to pass the torch from Spielberg to someone else yet.

If they really want this franchise to be as large as Star Wars or the MCU, then they might not have a choice but to. Make David Koepp, the screenwriter for the first 2 movies the Kevin Feige of this franchise.

David Koepp is just a screenwriter. Doubt he'd have what it takes to be the steering wheel of the franchise. It already looks like Trevorrow is this franchises Kevin Feige figure atm.

I honestly think with the novel coming out, it may be a sign that we're ready to take things into spinoffs/merchandise more...i have no doubt that the suits at universal will try renegotiating with the Crichton estate.

TyrannosaurTJ wrote:

Rhedosaurus wrote:

I don't get something. If Spielberg didn't want to be tied to a big franchise, then why in the world is he even still a part of the Jurassic Park franchise? And how did he get to wield so much power? Not only that, but can't Universal just simply fire him by now? I mean, he barely does anything as Executive Producer. Look at how he's overseen how the Transformers movie franchise get run into the ground ever since the first sequel. Not only that, but I'm sorry, he just doesn't have it anymore and his heart isn't in it either. Yeah, he can make good historical movies, but that's about it. He's lost his touch. Not only that, but he doesn't have his pulse on what people want anymore.

I hate to say it, but he's kind of a has-been now. It makes no sense to keep him on. He's only in it for the money. He needs to go.

I think it is the fact he had a big friendship with Michael Crichton and that had a lot to do with him retaining the control he's had over it so far. Outside of that I doubt Uni wants to "fire" Spielberg due to his well-earned good reputation for making films despite his obstructionism of the franchise and it limiting the growth of it altogether. Outside of that I do think he's trying to pass the torch over to Trevorrow while maintaining a hold on it so he can walk away from it saying he did what he could to keep it pure. I think a lot of how rationalizes the situation is due to his experience with the JAWS franchise and that's a lot of the reason for his obstructionism aside from being simply inundated with it all back when people tried to go nuts with the marketing. Spielberg's apathy though is insanely problematic, especially in the case with the Transformers franchise and Michael Bay who is literally a jerk.

I just think that Trevorrow is just too and, like CT-1138 said, he's a fan of the first movie and not the franchise as a whole. Not only that, but considering how he had little power with making JW, I'm not sure if he's up to being 'JP Kevin Feige'. We need somebody with a vision who also has expereince.

I'm actually quite glad that the JP series hasn't taken any inspiration from the MCU. Those marvel movies are all so forgettable and homogenous. They all feel like one giant uninteresting tv show. I like that every JP film has its own identity even if not all of them are good.

You can guess who didn't want guns in a JP game.

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JP doesn't need to follow the MCU path, but it should be bigger. I mean .. they could easily make animated movies and cartoons (again .. you know who didn't allow this to happen, which is a big shame because the cartoon was going to be great) + books, moew comics and so on.

Sobek wrote:

You can guess who didn't want guns in a JP game.

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JP doesn't need to follow the MCU path, but it should be bigger. I mean .. they could easily make animated movies and cartoons (again .. you know who didn't allow this to happen, which is a big shame because the cartoon was going to be great) + books, moew comics and so on.

Yeah. Spielberg is a big anti-gun liberial. I just say that Universal should move on from him and find somebody with a vision. What I meant by saying that JP should be like the MCU, I'm talking about a franchise that destroys all comers and with somebody at the helm who has a vision that cares about it. Spielberg is being too safe while at the same time being neglectful (JP3 and the poor treatment of the Sorna movies). In other words, he's become the reverse George Lucas.

Well, this franchise also isn't Turok. One of the branding rules set by Universal is that dinosaurs shouldn't be shown getting blasted away.

Yeah, I can't see dinosaurs being blown away with guns would go over well with anyone. There are numerous direction the franchise could conceivably go, but that shouldn't be one of them.

That side scroller on the snes was so much fun though, and it was a shooter.

I guess it would be weird to kill in a JP game with modern graphics. I’d like an alien isolation type game. Where the primary objective would be running away from things like the Rex and raptors.

And then you’d have weapons to stun them with.

Tyrant Lizard wrote:

Yeah, I can't see dinosaurs being blown away with guns would go over well with anyone. There are numerous direction the franchise could conceivably go, but that shouldn't be one of them.

Given what the viral site did to Sorna, im guessing Mainland is now one of the few remaining options for the franchise...

Sickle_Claw wrote:

Tyrant Lizard wrote:

Yeah, I can't see dinosaurs being blown away with guns would go over well with anyone. There are numerous direction the franchise could conceivably go, but that shouldn't be one of them.

Given what the viral site did to Sorna, im guessing Mainland is now one of the few remaining options for the franchise...

Ehh, I think the viral sites are at best "light canon".

And even if they aren't, this type of stuff can always be retroactively changed.

Tyrant Lizard wrote:

Sickle_Claw wrote:

Tyrant Lizard wrote:

Yeah, I can't see dinosaurs being blown away with guns would go over well with anyone. There are numerous direction the franchise could conceivably go, but that shouldn't be one of them.

Given what the viral site did to Sorna, im guessing Mainland is now one of the few remaining options for the franchise...

Ehh, I think the viral sites are at best "light canon".

And even if they aren't, this type of stuff can always be retroactively changed.

But if Universal/Spielberg decides to remake this franchise, then what? Do we still take this as canon or do we discard it?

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Tyrant Lizard wrote:

Sickle_Claw wrote:

Tyrant Lizard wrote:

Yeah, I can't see dinosaurs being blown away with guns would go over well with anyone. There are numerous direction the franchise could conceivably go, but that shouldn't be one of them.

Given what the viral site did to Sorna, im guessing Mainland is now one of the few remaining options for the franchise...

Ehh, I think the viral sites are at best "light canon".

And even if they aren't, this type of stuff can always be retroactively changed.

But if Universal/Spielberg decides to remake this franchise, then what? Do we still take this as canon or do we discard it?

My belief here is that it's canon until it isn't or at least a branch of the multiverse of the property. Something like the novel canon I consider the alpha universe and things like the films, comics, and games (where applicable) go into their own myriad of respective universes or same universe. Unlike a lot of multiversal properties (Transformers, Marvel, DC, etc.) there is no way to cross over with the alternate version but there is crossover with the themes. I approach this even with Star Wars former EU after it got relegated to Legends. Basically the alternate versions are there for the creators to cherry pick from until it isn't.