User blog:BastionMonk/Dino crisis

People often try to explain the failure of, Terra Nova or Disney's Dinosaur with bad storytelling or bad CGI etc. However, in the USA there isn't a single dinosaur film/series/game/comic that was a financial succes. Here is a small list:


 *  (2001)
 *  (2001)
 * (2001)
 *  (2001)
 *  (2003)
 *  (2008)
 *  (2009)
 *  (2009)
 * Jurassic Park: The Game (2011)
 *  (2011)
 *  (2012)

The only exception to this rule is the British series Primeval, which had 5 season from 2007 to 2011. However, this series never became very popular outside the United Kingdom.

We could discuss the flaws in all these media, but you can't deny there is a general trend. I think this trend will give a better explanation for the failure of JPIII and why we haven't seen another JP film for more than a decade.

For all their flaws, most films/series/games shown above had (generally) better CGI and storylines than pre-2000 media. I've made a list of them:

I would like to hear what you have to say about this.
 * (1966), popular at the box office.
 * (1970), popular at the box office.
 * , became a cult classic.
 * , 2 seasons.
 * , 4 seasons.
 * (1993), grossed $1,753,979 and spawned two official direct-to-video sequels.
 * (1997), huge succes with sequels.
 * (1999-2002), 3 seasons.
 * (1999), commercial succes.

This is my explanation:

Dinosaurs were very popular in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Dinosaurs didn't have to look great and the stories didn't have to be deep, if it had dinosaurs in it, people just loved it.

After the year 2000 the dino hype was over. I think that was the moment that the fantasy genre arose from the geek-hell with films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. These films caused that fantasy became more accepted by the general public. this process is over more enhanced by Game of Thrones.

At the same time dinosaur fell into the geek-hell. Dinosaurs are mostly regarded as something for tiny boys and nerds. Most film and game maker know better than putting dinosaurs in their media. As soon as the public finds out, they won't buy it.

Nowadays, you can create shallow and predictable series like Resident Evil and  and people will love it. Dinosaur media however, is destined to fail.