What's The Plot Of The New Jurassic World Movie? A Super-Fan Explains The Best Theories
The "Jurassic World" franchise is simply too big to go extinct. We recently learned that not only is Universal Pictures developing a seventh entry in the long-running dinosaur franchise, but the movie is set to hit theaters next summer. Yes, assuming the release date holds, we'll be seated for a new blockbuster in which humans and dinos try to co-exist in just over a year. For the moment, the studio is remaining very tight-lipped about the film, which opens the door for us to speculate wildly. That's precisely what we're going to do, while not going too off the rails with unfounded theorizing.
Rather, as a self-proclaimed super-fan of the franchise, I am going to take you, dear reader, through the options that can reasonably be considered, broadly speaking, following 2022's "Jurassic World Dominion." We're going to go over each broad possibility, as well as the pros and cons of each approach. The one thing that seems clear? After completing two different trilogies across three decades, the series is once again in need of reinvention. It's just a matter of how the powers that be choose to approach that reinvention. Let's dig in.
A direct sequel to Jurassic World Dominion
The first and most obvious narrative path for this new "Jurassic" movie to take would be a direct sequel to "Dominion." That movie played with some awfully big ideas, chief amongst them being that mankind and dinosaurs were truly having to coexist for the first time ever. After Isla Nublar was blown to smithereens in "Fallen Kingdom," the previously extinct animals had nowhere else to go but to the real world where people live. Now, the dinosaurs that remain live with people and the movie's ending left things on a pretty optimistic note.
An immediate challenge would emerge in taking this path as "Dominion" kind of left us with few places to go logically. It can't get any bigger than that movie and the only real option would be to expand upon the whole "dinosaurs and humans coexisting" concept. Wandering that road feels like it could easily lead right back to the bizarre dinosaur hybrid concepts that were abandoned back when "Jurassic Park 4" was stuck in development hell. Although, Universal would probably be attracted to keeping the continuity intact as "Dominion" made $1 billion at the box office and remains one of only a small handful of movies to accomplish that feat since the pandemic began.
The pros and cons of a Dominion sequel
The pros of continuing in the aftermath of "Dominion" are probably difficult for a lot of viewers to imagine. This was the worst-reviewed movie in the history of the franchise, and one that I was personally pretty hard on. That said, the promise of exploring a world where dinosaurs and humans coexist still hasn't been explored thoroughly in the way it was sort of promised. Director Colin Trevorrow opted to make the finale to the trilogy more about giant locusts before bringing us back to yet another secluded island for much of the film. A direct sequel could more thoroughly look at a world where dinosaurs are once again flourishing in the wild.
As far as cons go, it's pretty straightforward. "Dominion" was a critical disaster and continuing down that path runs the risk of allowing audiences to shrug the next installment off. It could be a similar situation to what happened with "Transformers: The Last Knight" after "Transformers: Age of Extinction." At some point, audiences will turn their backs on the franchise if they feel they're in for more of the same. A direct sequel to a $1 billion movie feels "safe" but, in this case, it carries more risk than usual.
A Jurassic World movie that fills in the timeline
Another option is a movie that fills in some gaps in the overall franchise timeline. These sorts of films are sometimes referred to as inbetweenquels. Think "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" or "Saw X." John Hammond was planning on opening Jurassic Park to the world in 1993, give or take. How many years was he prepping to open the park? Conservatively, a decade went into all of that planning. Roughly speaking, that means we've got about 40 years of continuity stretching from the mid-'80s up until now. Surely there are stories in there that need telling. There is a 14-year gap between the events of "Jurassic Park III" and "Jurassic World." Did anything interesting happen between 2001 and 2015 in the universe? One imagines so.
Without pitching an actual movie here, there are certainly stories to be told in reclaiming Isla Nublar while Jurassic World was being put together. That must have been quite the undertaking. There's also certainly a story or two to be told in the immediate aftermath of the original "Jurassic Park." The upcoming video game "Jurassic Park: Survival" actually seems to have the right idea as far as exploring that thread goes. These are just a few examples but with the right story and the right cast, it's not hard to see how this might be a viable option.
The pros and cons of a Jurassic inbetweenquel
To me, taking this approach allows for the most "have your cake and eat it too." Universal could easily move away from characters such as Chris Pratt's Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire Dearing without having to wipe the slate totally clean. "Star Wars" has done an unbelievably impressive job at working in between its own stories, with some of the most satisfying storytelling in that universe sort of coloring in the margins. Why can't "Jurassic" do the same? It may not allow for an entire trilogy all at once, but if the idea is to make one good movie that people care about, this option seems like the way to go.
As far as cons go, Universal may not be as satisfied with a one-off story, such as a John Hammond prequel or the building of Jurassic World. If the idea is to set up a potential trilogy, this might be limiting. Speaking purely as a fan and not looking at the business side of things, this is the richest area with the least potential downside, so far as I see it. I mean, wouldn't you like to see what happened with those dinosaur embryos in the Barbasol can that Dennis Nedry dropped in the mud? I know I would.
A full-on Jurassic Park reboot
This option may seem sacrilegious but it is undoubtedly something that needs to be considered. There is the possibility that Universal would/could completely reboot the franchise and re-adapt "Jurassic Park" for a new generation. Given that Steven Spielberg's original film is one of the most beloved blockbusters of all time, this immediately might upset a large percentage of the moviegoing public. Be that as it may, from a storytelling perspective, it is hard to argue against the upside here if the studio wants the franchise to continue for years to come.
As mentioned when we were talking about a sequel to "Dominion," the franchise now has 30 years worth of continuity to contend with, which also means 30 years worth of baggage. Any movie that is made within the franchise as it currently exists has to take everything that comes along with it. For any filmmaker coming into the situation, it would certainly be daunting to re-adapt Michael Crichton's classic novel, yet it might also be freeing to not be chained to the six movies that came before. It's also worth pointing out that David Koepp, who wrote the original screenplay for "Jurassic Park," is returning to pen the script for the new installment. Might Universal be turning to him to hit the big ol' reset button?
In Hollywood, nothing is truly sacred, even if the original movie is probably as close to sacred as it gets. Hard as it would be to accept, this is not out of the question, even if it feels less likely than the other options before us.
The pros and cons of a Jurassic franchise reboot
In this instance, the cons are easy to see. If Universal went with a full-on reboot, it would run the risk of alienating a number of viewers who love the movies as they exist, particularly "Jurassic Park." If the reboot were anything less than stellar, this would become a high-risk, low-reward scenario in a hurry. The studio might not want to wade into that territory, and A-list talent would likely be weary of upsetting the apple cart.
On the plus side, Crichton's original novel was changed greatly in Spielberg's original adaptation. There is a great deal of potential value in revisiting the original text and doing a more faithful adaptation of the book. If that works, then the sequels that could follow would have an entirely new path to wander down free of any pre-existing continuity concerns. Not to mention the possibility of also doing a more faithful adaptation of Crichton's "The Lost World" novel, if all goes well. These are all big ifs, but there is an upside in a reboot, even if it is tough to get one's head around at first.
The new "Jurassic World" movie is set to hit theaters on July 2, 2025.