Universal Pictures
For over 30 years dating back to Steven Spielberg’s original blockbuster classic “Jurassic Park,” these movies have been a force to be reckoned with. While it’s generally accepted that nothing has come close to topping the 1993 adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel that started it all, these movies have been tremendously successful. To date, across six films, the “Jurassic” series has generated more than $6 billion at the global box office. That being the case, we’re getting yet another entry next summer in the form of “Jurassic World Rebirth.” That title seems a bit on the nose as this movie has a lot of heavy lifting to do to secure a meaningful future for the franchise.
Before digging into why the pressure is on, let’s go over what we know about the upcoming installment. For one, it’s not going to be a full-on reboot and will take place in the aftermath of the events of 2022’s “Dominion” but none of the previous characters will be returning. Instead, Scarlett Johansson (“Black Widow”) leads a new stacked ensemble as Zora Bennett. Universal also recently revealed the first synopsis for “Rebirth,” which reads as follows:
Five years after the events of “Jurassic World Dominion,” the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.
Universal also went into some character descriptions which further reveal, “When Zora’s operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos, they all find themselves stranded on an island where they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that’s been hidden from the world for decades.” That’s arguably all more intriguing than anything contained in the main synopsis. It also suggests that this movie may be taking things in a sustainable direction, which is precisely what needs to happen after the heftiness of the “Jurassic World” trilogy.
The Jurassic World trilogy created a huge problem
Universal Pictures
Before getting into this next part, it’s worth laying my cards on the table: “Jurassic Park” is my favorite movie of all time. I will defend “The Lost World” with my dying breath, and “Jurassic Park III,” I like to joke, is the worst movie I’ve seen the most times. I’m also a big, big lover of 2015’s “Jurassic World.” This is to say, I’m not some cynic who only likes the first movie. That said, “Fallen Kingdom” was at very best a mixed bag for me, and that’s being generous. My biggest issue, though? “Dominion” taking what “Fallen Kingdom” set up and doing nothing of note with it.
2022’s “Dominion” brought with it the promise of seeing dinosaurs out in the world living amongst humans. “Fallen Kingdom” literally blew Isla Nublar off the map so there was nowhere else to go. The movie, instead, confined a ton of dinosaurs to an isolated area again and instead focused on giant locusts. Setting all of that aside, above all else the last two movies in the franchise made the stakes so impossibly big that it left us with nowhere to go. How does one proceed when you literally blow up Isla Nublar? How do you put the genie back in the bottle after dinosaurs are let loose upon the world?
The answer from here can’t be “keep making it bigger.” For as much as I can’t defend “Jurassic Park III” as a great movie, part of what makes it work at all in hindsight is that it’s a contained adventure with good dinosaur action. If this is going to become an ongoing, ever-expansive franchise, we need more of that. Heck, even Sam Neill has come around on “JP III” in recent years, for whatever that may be worth. There’s something to that, and the film has its vocal defenders!
Jurassic needs to go back to being more Park than World
Universal Pictures
Fortunately, it does seem director Gareth Edwards, of “Rogue One” and “Godzilla” fame, understands the need to scale back in some ways. “Rebirth,” based on that synopsis, is going to have meaningful stakes with this drug that can cure ailments. At the same time, the film has come up with a reason to scale back on the global nature of the dinosaur issue. These creatures will now largely exist in isolated areas once again. Couple that with the additional plotline involving this shipwrecked family and it’s easy to see how this just might take a step back rather than attempt to follow the bigger is better mentality.
It’s easy to forget that no franchise is too big to fail. Just look at the “Transformers” films. They were automatic hits until Michael Bay’s “The Last Knight” came around and made just $602 million worldwide on a huge $217 million budget, more than 40% less than its predecessor “Age of Extinction.” In fairness, “Dominion” cleared $1 billion worldwide despite earning largely unfavorable reviews, but it was the lowest-grossing entry in the trilogy and it left a bad taste in the mouths of many audience members. The automatic buy-in might not be there anymore.
That being the case, it’s essential to try and do something different here. Almost by default, that does mean having to go smaller in some ways. It also might mean that Universal can keep the budgets from inflating to the point of becoming prohibitive. More importantly, if the studio can make these new movies more “Park” than “World,” so to speak, it’s going to open up the playbook and allow this franchise to exist for years to come. For that to happen though, the powers that be have to rein things in a bit, lest they wish to see the franchise go extinct.
“Jurassic World Rebirth” is currently set to hit theaters on July 2, 2025.