Universal Pictures has a chance to do something it has been reluctant to do with the Jurassic Park franchise: stop looking forward and start looking back.
Jurassic Park Can Reset the Clock
The studio already has an example of what a back-to-basics Jurassic Park story could look like, and it comes from an unexpected place.
The upcoming first-person action-adventure video Jurassic Park: Survival returns to Isla Nublar just one day after the events of Steven Spielberg’s original Jurassic Park (1993). Rather than jumping decades into the future, the game revisits the aftermath of the original dinosaur breakout and explores what happened immediately after the events of the movie.
Players take control of InGen scientist Dr. Maya Joshi, who is stranded on Isla Nublar after being unable to evacuate, meaning you’ll get to explore the original setting without having to account for everything that happened across the six sequels that followed Spielberg’s movie.
That same approach could work on the big screen.
In other words, Universal could leave the current Jurassic World storyline behind and return to the foundation established by Michael Crichton’s original Jurassic Park novel.
But why is this necessary? Well, the future of the Jurassic franchise has become increasingly uncertain, and now, following Gareth Edwards’ recent departure from the next film, many fans are demanding a reboot to avoid more damaging sequels like Jurassic World Rebirth (2025).
While the sequel to that film is reportedly still moving ahead, the loss of the director presents Universal with an opportunity to reconsider where the series goes next rather than simply replacing him and continuing as planned.
Related: ‘Jurassic World Rebirth 2’ May Revisit Human Cloning Storyline
A move like this seems more crucial than ever in light of recent events.
Rebirth might have grossed $869.1 million worldwide, but it failed to build upon the ending of Jurassic World Dominion (2022), which established dinosaurs living and spreading throughout the world.
David Koepp, who wrote the screenplay for the film, later admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that he “didn’t have a single idea about where to go” with the global dinosaur storyline. He explained that the solution was to make dinosaurs “exotic and special” again by restricting them.
More recently, he made similar comments to Screen Rant about how he’s unsure how to continue the series in “a logically and in a scientifically believable way.”
Now, with Edwards, who directed Rebirth and was on board to helm the next film, having exited the project over “creative differences,” according to Deadline, there are simply too many red flags to ignore.
There’s no release date for the untitled Jurassic World sequel; however, it’s now expected to start shooting in 2027.
Jurassic Park: Survival will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, although it currently has no release date.
Would you like to see Universal completely reboot Jurassic Park? Or should the studio continue with the current story? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
