Photo Courtesy: IMDb
When Universal first released Jurassic World in 2015 they did not expect the movie to perform as well as it did. While critics liked the movie, they all agreed it did not capture the magic and wonder of the original 1993 Jurassic Park. However, the film was a hit and earned
1.6 billion dollars at the global box office and ushered in a new era of Jurassic films. The following sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, was released in 2018 and also made a billion dollars at the box office. However, it failed to deliver the critics something they wanted, like the classic feel of the original movie. While the latest film released in 2022; Jurassic World: Dominion, again made just over a billion dollars, it disappointed not only the critics but the fans as well, which brought the franchise to a halt.
However, early this year Universal announced that there would be a new Jurassic film soon. It was around February that news started to spread about how there was a new film in production. There had been no previous news about any new projects within the series, and now the film is expected to be out next summer. While the studio has been keeping information about the film under wraps, we are now getting our first look at what the film might be like.
The director will be Gareth Edwards, but before the studio settled on him, they chose David Leitch. Leitch is best known for directing Deadpool 2 (2018) and Hobbs and Shaw (2019) which have each earned over 750 million at the box office, and more recently directed the action films Bullet Train and The Fall Guy in 2022 and 2024, respectively. While Leitch has an impressive resume, he left the project due to creative differences with the studio.
Enter Gareth Edwards, the forty-nine-year-old British director behind multiple movies that are special effects heavy that we will get to in a second. Edwards had planned to take a break from filmmaking before this was offered to him. But once he found out he could be the director, he said in an article published by Collider “…this is the only movie that would make me drop everything like a stone and dive right in.” Edwards’ first movie was released in 2010, which was an independent monster movie simply called Monsters. Edwards wrote, directed, and did all the special effects for the movie. This was enough to convince Warner Brothers to let him do the same with 2014’s Godzilla which kickstarted the “Monsterverse.” Edwards is coming off his most recent film The Creator (2023) which was nominated for an Academy Award this past year.
The screenwriter for the film, David Koepp, is a veteran of the franchise. Having
rewritten original author’s Michael Crichton original version of Jurassic Park to the version we know and love. While the film might have been darker and more violent in line with his 1990 novel, Koepp scaled down those elements and made the film more child-friendly, while also keeping the science fiction action from the book. Koepp also wrote the sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and was given, at the time, the largest deal to write a film adaptation, estimated to be between 1.5-2 million dollars. While Koepp tried to come up with ideas for the third entry in the franchise, he left because of creative differences and would not return for another twenty years. Koepp was consulted during the last film Jurassic World: Dominion in 2022. It is not exactly known what he added to the film, just that screenwriters Colin Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael met with him to get input on the film. He is now returning in full capacity on the seventh film.
The ensemble cast will be led by Scarlett Johansson, who will play Zora Bennett. Bennett will be the leader of a covert operation team focused on getting DNA from dinosaurs. In addition to Johansson, the film will star Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, and Rupert Friend. Bailey will play Dr. Henry Loomis, a paleontologist who appears to also work for the fictional “Natural History Museum of North America” and will serve as Bennett’s dinosaur expert. Mahershala Ali will play Duncan Kincaid, a leader of the team and Bennett’s most trusted ally. These three actors have been recently published in promotional photos for the film. Bennett and Loomis appear in a field of long grass (perhaps the same one from “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”) during the day and they look to be observing a dinosaur. The second photo features just Kincaid holding the famous flare. What is notable about this photo is that he looks to be scared out of his mind, and he also has a vial on his belt that appears to have something to do with the plot. Friend will play a pharmaceutical representative whose name was just announced as Martin Krebs.
Okay, now for what we know about the plot. Honestly, not a whole lot. As stated before, Universal has done a very good job of keeping the story quiet. They released a synopsis that details what the basic story is, and it sounds promising. It takes place five years after the last installment where the dinosaurs are living around the whole world. However, they start dropping off around the world because they cannot survive in modern elements. The few that have survived now live in elements that were similar to the ones they once lived in one hundred fifty years ago. The three most tremendous titans hold a key that will bring an incredible lifesaving drug to humanity. The co-op team will encounter a family whose boat has been capsized by multiple aquatic prehistoric animals. The team and the “Delgado” family will find themselves on an island where they will find a dark surprise that has been hidden from the world for decades. Production is currently filming in the United Kingdom and has almost wrapped up with filming in Thailand, and Malta already being complete. Thailand stands in for the traditional Costa Rica setting and filming in Malta saw the use of water tanks for underwater scenes.
Filming is wrapping up in the United Kingdom and will move into postproduction in the next couple of months. Look for Jurassic World: Rebirth in cinemas next summer on July 2nd.
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