Credit: Universal PicturesJurassic World Rebirth (2025) might have taken a huge bite out of the box office last summer with $869.1 million worldwide, but it came under heavy fire from fans and critics for its script, underdeveloped characters, and storytelling decisions that essentially involved undoing the events of its predecessors, Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Dominion (2022).
Directed by Gareth Edwards (2014’s Godzilla) and written by David Koepp (1993’s Jurassic Park, 1997’s The Lost World), Jurassic World Rebirth is the seventh installment in the long-running film series. It stars Scarlett Johansson as Zora Bennett, a covert operations specialist tasked with retrieving life-changing genetic material from three colossal dinosaurs on a third InGen island, Ile Saint-Hubert. However, in true Jurassic fashion, Bennett’s team faces immediate danger when the island’s prehistoric inhabitants emerge from the shadows.
Jurassic World Rebirth Wasted Huge Potential
As well as being a generic, rinse-wash-repeat sequel, Rebirth left many fans infuriated by inexplicably wiping out the global dinosaur population, a popular concept established in Fallen Kingdom, continued in Dominion, and expanded in tie-in media such as the Jurassic World Evolution video games and the animated series Jurassic World: Chaos Theory.
In doing so, Rebirth reduces itself to a film set on yet another jungle island while also limiting future films in the series.
Screenwriter David Koepp, whom many fans were excited to see return after he co-wrote the first two installments in the Jurassic series, was the man behind this decision. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter following the film’s release last year, he explained that he “didn’t have a single idea about where to go” with the mainland-dinosaurs storyline.
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Here’s Why He Ignored Fallen Kingdom and Dominion
“I wanted to respect what occurred in the first six movies, because I hate when you watch and they gaslight you and say, ‘No, that never happened'”, he said. “Or, ‘That was a timeline’. I hate that shit. So I said, ‘No, that all happened, but I want to make them special again. How do we do that?’ I wanted us to be back in their environment instead of them in ours.”
He went on to explain further:
“In re-reading the [Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park] books, I found the perfect justification. There’s a great speech which I just popped into the script, which was that we think these things are going to live here now, but we forget that this is a different planet. Our landscape is completely different except this narrow band where the environment is somewhat similar to what it used to be [where dinosaurs can survive]. So let’s make dinosaurs exotic and special so that we have to go seek them out instead of, you know, fighting with them over a cab.”
Despite Koepp’s comments around respecting the lore, Rebirth is teeming with continuity errors. So much so, many fans don’t even consider it canon with the first six Jurassic films.
New Jurassic Sequel Rumored to Be in the Works
Rebirth grossed nearly $870 million at the global box office, but Universal is yet to announce plans for a sequel. However, reports claim that one is already in early talks, with director Gareth Edwards and stars Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali all in negotiations to return.
If those rumors are true, here’s hoping that Edwards gets more creative control next time, because he could be the best man to steer the franchise back on track. In an interview with Wholetusoutmovies (via Swrve), the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) director was asked what his favorite scene in the Jurassic franchise is. His answer? The T. rex attack in San Diego in The Lost World (1997). Yes — a dinosaur on the mainland.
“It’ll be the T. rex getting to San Diego,” he said. “I like it when they get to the gas station. I also like it when it [the rex] gets to the house and it drinks from the pool. I just wanted two hours of that.” He then added, “Maybe one day we’ll get two hours of that.”
Watch the clip below (via Swrve):
Jurassic World 8 Should Erase Rebirth
Edwards’ dreams of seeing dinosaurs on the mainland for two hours could have come true. While Dominion disappointed many fans hoping to see the setup in Fallen Kingdom pay off, the 2022 sequel frustratingly opted for an isolated jungle setting (Italy’s Dolomites) instead of spending time with dinosaurs around the world as heavily suggested in all the marketing.
Still, Rebirth could have delivered on that promise instead of wiping the slate clean and implying that, actually, life didn’t find a way, with the film explaining that dinosaurs are now dying off because the planet’s ecology is no longer hospitable to them, adding that those that survive now live in equatorial regions where the climate is closer to the one in which they thrived millions of years ago.
The film even led to the shuttering of the beloved official website Dino Tracker, which allowed fans to keep track on dinosaur populations and sightings worldwide.
But could the next Jurassic World film ignore the events of Rebirth in the same way it did with Fallen Kingdom and Dominion? Well, if Edwards is given more creative freedom next time and David Koepp doesn’t return, we’re sure life could find a way.
Jurassic World Rebirth stars Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Endgame), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer), Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Mahershala Ali (The Green Book), Luna Blaise (Manifest), David Iacono (Dead Boy Detectives), Audrina Miranda (Lopez vs Lopez), Philippine Velge (Station Eleven), Bechir Sylvain (BMF), and Ed Skrein (Deadpool).
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