'Jurassic World: Dominion' Will Reduce Production Size In Malta Due To Rising Coronavirus Cases

Production on Jurassic World: Dominion is back underway in the United Kingdom, but once shooting is done there, the cast and crew is slated to head over to the island nation of Malta. However, Universal will be scaling back production on the island due to a recent surge in coronavirus cases, including four of the film's crew members who have tested positive on the island before production has even begun there.

Deadline has word on Jurassic World: Dominion production scaling back in Malta after the rise in COVID-19 cases. Since some of those cases include a few crew members already on the island, cast members Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Sam Neill won't be traveling to the island for the time being. It's not clear if they will head there later in the production schedule, but it doesn't seem likely based on the following statement from Universal Pictures:

"Jurassic World: Dominion will have a significant presence in Malta with a second unit crew shooting there from the end of August through to September. Working with an abundance of caution as we have done throughout this production, first unit will no longer shoot in Malta to keep our presence on the ground to a minimum. We'd like to thank the Maltese Government and Film Commission for all their support and we look forward to a successful shoot in this beautiful country."

There are 600 active cases of COVID-19 currently on the island, which is almost half of the total number of infections that have been recorded in the country since the start of the pandemic. That's a huge surge for a small island nation, so they're closing all nightclubs, bars, concert halls and sports clubs to squash it.

Though Jurassic World: Dominion won't have quite as big of a presence on the island as previously planned, there will still be 200 crew members coming to the island for a few weeks. That's half of the crew size that was originally expected, which will be made up of crew members from the United Kingdom. But even the UK crew hasn't been completely immune to COVID-19. Four members of the crew have tested positive since production resumed in July. But they were isolated and no one became seriously ill.

This just goes to show you that no matter how safe people are with protocols, COVID-19 can still wreak havoc on our population. It's good that Jurassic World: Dominion has been able to keep the spread contained, and they're even being used as an example of how to do it right, but even they're having problems. Those aren't going to disappear until we get a vaccine or shut everything down again for a month.