Franchises That Need to Give It a Rest

With the rise of sequels becoming evermore prevalent in the film industry, the Arts & Entertainment Department chose franchises they are sick of seeing on the big screen.

Jurassic Park

When the first "Jurassic Park" came out in 1993, it was a groundbreaking movie with dinosaurs living with people and acclaimed as one of Stephen Spielberg’s best creations.

The success of the first film gave us two sequels that did not touch the success of the first film, with "The Lost World" receiving a 53% on Rotten Tomatoes, and "Jurassic Park III" falling all the way to 49%.

The flopping sequels left the franchise dormant for 14 years when they tried again with "Jurassic World," where they revamped the franchise with a film that received praise for the new direction they took the franchise. As with the first film, the commercial success of "Jurassic World" gave us two sequels to the film with "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" and "Jurassic World: Dominion."

In almost identical fashion, the sequels flopped in a big way, falling all the way down to a 29% score on Rotten Tomatoes with "Jurassic World: Dominion."

After all the sequel flops, it’s finally time to let the dinosaurs go extinct and move on to greener pastures. - Adam Sheetz

Indiana Jones

"Indiana Jones" had one of the greatest trilogies of all time before making “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” a film that wasn’t received as well but still nicely wrapped up Indy’s story as he reunited with his son Mutt and married Marion.

Then, 15 years later, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” was released. It's time to hang up that hat.

It's not even that the fifth film in the franchise was that terrible, but we are at the point where the franchise needs to rest.

Harrison Ford is 81 years old, and while he can still act at an elite level, he is unable to do the action set pieces that the franchise is known for.

It's time to lay the whip to rest. -Ben Palillo

Star Wars

“Star Wars” has been a staple of American cinema and pop culture since 1977. But, to paraphrase Kylo Ren, sometimes you have to “let the past die.”

I’ve been a “Star Wars” fan my whole life, but sometimes less is more. Disney’s 2010s sequel trilogy was divisive at best and disastrous at worst, proving that it may have been better not to revive the series.

There have long been rumors that the House of Mouse will eventually return to the franchise and produce yet another trilogy, but that simply shouldn’t happen.

I’d go a step further and say “Star Wars” needs to cool out on the Disney+ spinoffs as well. “The Mandalorian” was, in my opinion, a fantastic and worthy addition to the canon, and “Andor” was also a favorite of many diehard fans.

Yet, there have been forgettable entries as well, with many more scheduled to release in the coming years.

The series George Lucas dreamt up decades ago still has plenty of great history and films future fans can look back on and enjoy for years to come. But Disney should be careful not to keep releasing sequels for the sake of it, because fans could soon experience significant fatigue if they aren’t already. -Joe Tuman

Adam Sheetz is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ads360@psu.edu.

Ben Palillo is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email bgp5079@psu.edu.

Joe Tuman is a third year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email joentuman@gmail.com.