Credit: Universal PicturesThe Jurassic World era has proven hugely successful for the long-running Jurassic franchise. Since the 2015 film of the same name revitalized and rebranded the series, there’s been no stopping this latest era of films.
Jurassic World (2015) grossed $1.671 billion worldwide, and that success led to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022), which made $1.310 billion and $1.004 billion at the global box office, respectively.
Jurassic World Rebranded the Entire Franchise
We also saw upgrades to Universal Studios attractions, with Jurassic Park: The Ride receiving an overhaul to reflect the 2015 film’s dinosaurs and overall aesthetics, and all-new rides like VelociCoaster, as well as touring exhibitions like Jurassic World: The Experience.
The film even spawned video games like Jurassic World Evolution, waves of merchandise that included several toy lines, and the two Netflix animated television shows, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (2020-2022) and Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (2024-2025).
Last year, the latest film in the series, Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) was released in theaters. While it featured an entirely new cast and promised the start of “a new Jurassic era,” it still maintained the reliable World branding and grossed $869.1 million worldwide.
But despite all that success, Universal now appears to be moving away from the World banner and back to the Park era — at least in certain corners of the Jurassic franchise.
Related: ‘Jurassic Park’ Films Won’t Be Returning to Theaters, Will Continue on the Small Screen
Universal Is Returning to the Jurassic Park Era
The Jurassic World Animated Universe Has Ended
Last year saw the end of Chaos Theory (2024-2025) after four seasons. While there’s every chance the animated side of the franchise will return under a new name in the same way its five-season predecessor Camp Cretaceous evolved into the latest run, for now it is seemingly extinct and there have been no announcements from Universal or Netflix about a third entry.
Rebirth Was Hugely Problematic With Fans and Critics
It’s also worth noting that Rebirth was hugely divisive among fans, largely because of its poor script, badly written characters, and creative choices (it swiftly undid the incredibly fertile, fan-favorite global-dinosaurs premise established in Fallen Kingdom and Dominion).
Universal Remains Quiet on a Rebirth Sequel
While rumors of a follow-up to that film, which is reportedly set to bring back director Gareth Edwards and its lead Scarlett Johansson, continue to circulate online, the studio hasn’t confirmed anything. As such, the future of the film series is currently unknown.
Universal Studios Has Returned to the Park Era
Elsewhere in the franchise, Universal Studios Hollywood recently opened the “Jurassic World: A Journey Through the Eras” exhibit, which is running from April 23 to May 19.
While this new expansion falls under the World banner, it’s actually a celebration of the Park era, with appearances from characters such as John Hammond, Dennis Nedry, and Ian Malcolm, as well as dinosaurs and vehicles and other props from those first three films.
Jurassic Park: Survival Will Return to the 1993 Timeline
With all that said, the most notable shift back toward the Park era comes in the form of Saber Interactive’s first-person action-adventure title Jurassic Park: Survival (TBA).
The upcoming video game will take players back to Isla Nublar, 1993 just 24 hours after the events of the 1993 film for an original story that follows Dr. Maya Joshi (Payal Mistry), an InGen scientist who has failed to evacuate the island and must now find ways to outlast free-roaming dinosaurs like T. rex, Dilophosaurus, and Velociraptor. Watch the trailer below:
Whether Universal is quietly moving away from the World era remains to be seen. Although it’s proven hugely successful since it launched in 2015, it has leaned heavily on nostalgia.
Now, Jurassic is seemingly leaning even harder into nostalgia by slowly returning to that original timeline. Here’s hoping this trip down memory lane also extends to the film series, which seems creatively cornered by Rebirth and is overdue a Park-era prequel of some kind.
Jurassic Park: Survival will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
There’s no release date yet.
Would you like to see the Jurassic Park franchise finally return to the original era? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
