Credit: Universal StudiosIt’s been over a year since Jurassic World Dominion (2022) hit theaters. Before its release, the film was marketed as the “end of the Jurassic era”, which led many fans to believe it was the last installment in the long-running Jurassic Park/Jurassic World film series.
We now know this isn’t the case. Both producer Frank Marshall and director Colin Trevorrow have confirmed that there will be more Jurassic installments in the future. Exactly what the future of the franchise looks like, though, is unclear.
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Audiences and critics weren’t in favor of the direction the last two films, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World Dominion, took the franchise in, with dinosaurs escaping captivity and ending up populating in the North American wilderness.
Many species even crossed borders due to the illegal dinosaur black market, which is revealed in the latest film. It’s possible that a follow-up, whether another film or a television series, will further explore the dinosaur trade, but we’ll have to wait and see.
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This would be a great way to continue with the story established at the end of Fallen Kingdom — dinosaurs living among humans — without casting too big a lens over the situation. Dominion should have tried this, but the 2022 sequel had other priorities (a horde of genetically engineered locusts and a lot of fan service).
Instead of exploring in full the concept of dinosaurs living and populating in the human world, these aspects are, surprisingly, only teased, whether it’s in the opening and closing montages, or the dinosaur trade scenes during the sequence in Malta.
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Fortunately, fans who were disappointed with Dominion for this reason still have the opportunity to sink their teeth into seeing dinosaurs living near humans. There’s the park management simulation game, Jurassic World: Evolution 2 (2021), the short film from Colin Trevorrow, Battle at Big Rock (2019), and the Jurassic World Dominion prologue, which was later added to the extended version of the film for home release.
But Battle at Big Rock and the Jurassic World Dominion prologue aren’t the the only short films in the Jurassic universe — there are others that weren’t publicized in the same way, as they were part of a viral marketing campaign designed to promote Dominion.
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The Jurassic World films are no stranger to viral marketing. The first film, Jurassic World (2015), had its own website, Masrani Global, where users could learn more about the fictitious corporation as seen in the film. Fallen Kingdom has its own website too, Dinosaur Protection Group, centered around the organization in the film that was set up to protect dinosaurs from extinction. Then, Dominion introduced Dino Tracker, where users can keep tabs on dinosaur populations around the world in “real time.”
Understandably, some people tend to avoid viral marketing, from fear they’ll stumble upon some spoilers. Others simply don’t have time to peruse a “fake” website in the run up to the release of the film it’s promoting, no matter how clever and impressive it is, or how it might expand upon the universe established on the big screen.
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If you’re one of those people, you may have missed a series of short, canonical Jurassic World films that each show dinosaurs living in the human world, not unlike Battle at Big Rock (though each a lot shorter than the eight-minute film from Trevorrow).
Rather than spoiling these fun little films for you, you can check them out below, where they’ve all been compiled in a single video, courtesy of the official Jurassic World YouTube channel. But, you know, hold onto your butts…
Check out the video below:
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We think you’ll agree that this series of Jurassic World shorts is short but sweet. Or bittersweet, perhaps. Like Battle at Big Rock and the Jurassic World Dominion prologue, these shorts prove that a live-action Jurassic World television series could work.
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, but we’re sure life will find a way.
As per the Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment website, here’s the official synopsis for the film:
From Jurassic World architect and director Colin Trevorrow, Dominion takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live — and hunt –alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.
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Jurassic World Dominion is directed by Colin Trevorrow and stars Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire Dearing), Chris Pratt (Owen Grady), Mamoudou Athie (Ramsay Cole), Isabella Sermon (Maisie Lockwood), Omar Sy (Barry Sembène), BD Wong (Henry Wu), Campbell Scott (Lewis Dodgson), DeWanda Wise (Kayla Watts), Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcolm), Sam Neill (Dr. Alan Grant), and Laura Dern (Dr. Ellie Sattler).
Have you seen these short films from Jurassic World? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!