Credit: Universal PicturesThe upcoming film, Jurassic World Rebirth, one of four Jurassic sequels currently in development, will completely ignore the Jurassic World trilogy.
While the Jurassic World films were a huge success for the Jurassic franchise, with each one grossing over a whopping $1 billion worldwide, there’s no denying that the last two entries in the series, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022), were absolutely torn to shreds by many fans and critics upon their release.
Directed by Colin Trevorrow, Jurassic World (2015) came along with a simple yet effective formula: the park on Isla Nublar is now open but a genetic hybrid created to increase guest attendance is about to escape and wreak havoc.
Jurassic World acts as a sort of direct sequel to the original 1993 film, but at the same time, it wipes the cast clean, bringing in fresh blood with Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing. The film was a box office juggernaut and, despite a few minor criticisms, was well received across the board.
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Trevorrow stepped aside for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, allowing JA Bayona to take the helm.
Though a visually striking film with many iconic shots (the T-Rex roaring while a volcano erupts in the background, the Indoraptor sat on a mansion rooftop during a full moon), Fallen Kingdom suffers from a convoluted plot, with many contrivances throughout, including the overuse of genetic tampering (the human clone, Maisie Lockwood, is introduced).
It also feels like a film of two halves, with the first taking place on Isla Nublar, and the second set in Lockwood Manor. Despite the indoor setting offering plenty of scares and nail-biting sequences, the transition is nothing short of jarring and incoherent.
Jurassic World Dominion, which saw Trevorrow return to the director’s chair, was even less well-received. Dubbed as “the end of the Jurassic era,” the trilogy-topper brought back Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, as well as Jurassic Park trilogy stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum as Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Ian Malcolm, respectively.
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There’s a ton of fun to be had with the film, but, like Fallen Kingdom, and perhaps even the first Jurassic World, Dominion feels so far removed from Jurassic Park (1993) in terms of style, tone, and believability.
As fun as they might be, the World films are over-the-top action blockbusters, as opposed to the tension-focused, science fiction-thriller approach of Steven Spielberg’s landmark classic.
Though you could argue that The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001) also require a bigger suspension of disbelief in each their own right, at least they (try to) honor the tone and atmosphere of that first film.
So, where does this leave the upcoming sequel, Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)? Naturally, given its title, fans are expecting it to feel like a World movie, but with a visionary director like Gareth Edwards at the helm, who’s known for taking massive blockbuster IPs and trying to ground them as much as possible (2014’s Godzilla reboot, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), it’s possible Rebirth will be more akin to the Park side of the Jurassic franchise.
However, it isn’t just Edwards who’s trying to get the franchise back on track after the divisive Jurassic World trilogy–screenwriter David Koepp, who penned the first two films in the series, Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, has returned.
In a recent interview with The Discourse Podcast (via Collider), Koepp talked about how the Jurassic World trilogy has a completely different tone to the Jurassic Park trilogy.
While he didn’t mention anything about this being a bone of contention for many fans, the fact that he and executive producer Steven Spielberg (who also directed the first two films) decided to make Rebirth more like the 1993 original speaks volumes.
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“I hope people like the movie [Jurassic World Rebirth] because the series tended to change after [Jurassic Park III], and it felt like, ‘Okay, so let’s change our tone,'” Koepp admitted, adding, “Steven [Spielberg] and I were interested in a tone that was maybe more akin to the very first movie. I saw it [Rebirth] early on as a mission movie. I like things that are driven by bottles, by containment.”
As revealed in the official synopsis, Jurassic World Rebirth follows covert operations expert Zora Bennett (played by the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Scarlett Johansson), who’s hired to lead a specialist team on a top-secret mission to secure DNA from the world’s three biggest dinosaurs across land, sea, and air.
Parallels between Zora’s mission and disgruntled InGen computer engineer Dennis Nedry’s espionage in the original film (stealing viable dinosaur embryos from containment) aren’t that obvious, but we’ll take Koepp’s point.
“Developing a limited team [Zora’s expedition] and a thing that they have to accomplish – that was all really fun,” Koepp added “And it was just fun to return to that world of great adventure backed by real science and write some cool new characters. You don’t often get a chance to have a blank slate and say, ‘What do you want to do?’ There were no franchise expectations other than dinosaurs.”
It remains to be seen whether Jurassic World Rebirth will feel like a Park movie (they haven’t exactly gotten off to the best start with the title), but let’s just hope it’s a great addition to the franchise either way.
When Can I Watch Jurassic World Rebirth?
Jurassic World Rebirth will be released in theaters worldwide on July 2, 2025.
The film 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).
Click here to find out what you can expect from the first official trailer.
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