The film industry has recently felt the desire to bring old and beloved franchises back as continuations or reboots. So far the results have been mixed. This year specifically brought about a reimagining of Ghostbusters with an all-female cast, which did not perform as well as it needed to. Last year however was a different story entirely. Star Wars and the Jurassic Park franchises came back with a vengeance with The Force Awakens and Jurassic World breaking box office records throughout the year, putting both in the top five highest grossing movies worldwide of all-time.
The (surprising) success of Jurassic World quickly meant an announcement for Jurassic World 2, with Colin Trevorrow passing on returning as director. J.A. Bayona is now onboard to helm the sequel, with Trevorrow still helping out in the pre-production stages, and the new helmer is now teasing the trilogy that he is in the middle of.
During a recent interview with LRM, Bayona was asked about the evolution of the sequel following the success of the first movie. While he is still in the early stages and writing the script, Bayona has so far been impressed with the vision Trevorrow has for the trilogy and how it continues to have influences from Steven Spielberg:
“It’s very interesting. The whole Jurassic World is a trilogy that Colin Trevorrow has envisioned. We’re writing the second chapter, and it’s very interesting where he’s leading the story. I grew up watching Steven Spielberg movies and I love those movies and the legacy, so it’s a question of being truthful to the legacy and at the same time, bringing new stuff that people will appreciate. We are still six months ahead of shooting, and so far, so good. It’s very exciting right now.”
Even though fans still have to wait a bit before seeing anything from this movie, it should be comforting to know that there are two talented and passionate directors working to make Jurassic World 2 the best it can be. Nobody expected Jurassic World to be as successful at the box office as it was, so while recapturing the eagerness to get back to this world may be impossible, bringing a stronger story should help. There was clearly a desire to see more from this world and it should not take long for audiences to once again get excited for a trip back.
While Bayona is hard at work on Jurassic World 2, his upcoming film A Monster Calls has been getting stellar reviews. If he can bring the kind of emotion and story to the sequel as reviews say he does for this, then another big hit could be on the way for Universal in a few years. The plot is so far being kept under wraps, as it should be, but a broader area to explore has been teased before. As long as the sequel continues to earn money, Trevorrow should have no troubles finishing out the trilogy plans he has been teasing since last year.
Jurassic World 2 arrives in U.S. theaters on June 22nd, 2018.
