Universal Pictures has started to ramp up the hype for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the sequel to its recent return to the genius of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. While we’re still waiting on the synopsis for the film and the trailer is still a way in the distance, we now know that the film will be released in summer 2018 and that it will bring back both Chris Pratt (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2) and Bryce Dallas Howard (Pete’s Dragon) from the previous film.
Jurassic World did a pretty good job of injecting new life into the franchise, albeit with a little tongue in cheek spirit, so there will already be a lot of excitement for the second film in the new series. Colin Trevorrow may not be in the directors chair this time around with J.A. Bayona taking on the responsibility, but he has helped to write the screenplay and he’s got joint executive producer credits with Stephen Spielberg, so it’s influence should continue in fallen kingdom.
Stephen Spielberg directed both Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park II, so it’s good to see that he’s back involved with the latest installment in the franchise once again. He was also one of the executive producers for Jurassic World, so again there’s good continuity for Fallen Kingdom.
Release date
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has been confirmed for the US box office with a release date scheduled for 22 June 2018 and were expecting the UK release date to be very similar. The previous film came out in the UK and US on the same date – 12th of June 2015 – and we’ll be very surprised if that isn’t the case again with the new film.
Story
With no synopsis and no trailer as of yet there is very little details on the story from Universal Pictures, however, we do know that with Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard returning to their roles as Owen and Claire, the expectation is for a continuation of the plot from the previous film. This saw the latest incarnation of the dinosaur theme park being just as susceptible to disaster as John Hammond’s construction in the very first film in the series.
Following the epic climax to the film which saw the T-rex and raptor Blue facing the Indominus-rex, which went on to be chomped by the Mosasaurus, Isla Nublar went on to be abandoned once again. We’re expecting this to be the Fallen Kingdom referenced in the title and that Owen and Claire will have to return to the island with a larger team in a bid to take back control. However, we will have to wait for more details from Universal Pictures before we know for sure.
Cast
In addition to Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard returning as dinosaur expert Owen and park operations manager Claire, the cast will also see BD Wong (Focus) back as Dr Henry Wu, the geneticist behind the whole story. He managed to escape the island towards the end of Jurassic World with a number of dinosaur embryos, so this is clearly going to be a big part of the next adventure.
Perhaps the biggest news for the cast is that Jeff Goldblum (Thor: Ragnarok) will be back in his role as Dr. Ian Malcolm, who hasn’t featured in the film series since his last appearance in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Other new additions to the cast include Toby Jones (Atomic Blonde), Rafe Spall (The BFG), James Cromwell (Big Hero 6), Ted Lavine (American Gangster), Justice Smith (Paper Towns), Geraldine Chaplin (Electric Dreams) and Daniella Pineda (Homeland).
Production
J.A. Bayona is directing the film following from his other recent larger than life movie, A Monster Calls. Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow have written the film based on the brilliant work of Michael Crichton. Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley and Belen Atienza are producing the film with Stephen Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow as the executive producers.
First impressions
Having appreciated the slightly irreverent nature of Jurassic World with its focus on monster movie mayhem and fun, we’re expecting Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to continue in the same vein. However, director J.A. Bayona doesn’t really have much in the way of comedy, action or adventure in his back catalogue, so it’s possible that the sequel could take things in darker, more serious directions. We’ll have to wait for the story details and trailer to find out more about the 2018 release.
