Jurassic World Rebirth Teases The Reboot The Franchise Desperately Needs
Third time’s the charm.
The Jurassic saga is one of the most beloved properties in movie history, but it’s been some time since Universal Pictures has actually done right by the IP. 2015’s Jurassic World promised a bigger, better return to classic sci-fi thrills, but the film and its two maximalist sequels never quite struck the right chord. Jurassic World Dominion, released in 2022, seemed to be the final nail in the coffin: not even the return of the original Jurassic Park cast was enough to generate new interest in the saga. After three middling films, Universal took the hint. If the Jurassic franchise was going to find a way forward, it needed to wipe the slate clean.
The studio swapped Colin Trevorrow — the director of all three Jurassic World films — for Gareth Edwards, no stranger to franchise sandboxes. Edwards promptly selected a new cast of heavy hitters, from Marvel alums like Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali to burgeoning leading men like Wicked’s Jonathan Bailey. The director hasn’t revealed much about his plans for Jurassic World Rebirth, save for a “back to basics” approach that will (ideally) recreate the magic of Steven Spielberg’s original film. But with its summer release date quickly approaching, Edwards and Universal are ready to bring us back to a land where humans and dinosaurs coexist. Check out the first trailer for Rebirth below.
Rebirth kicks off five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, which officially set dinosaurs loose across the globe. Rather than running rampant, the prehistoric beasts have migrated to a tropical biosphere close to the equator, the only place on Earth where they can survive.
Johansson’s Zora Bennett has been dispatched to locate the largest dinos of land, sea, and air. Their genetic material holds the key to creating a new life-saving drug, and her mysterious employers are keen to secure it before it’s too late. Zora teams up with Duncan Kincaid (Ali), a ship captain, and paleontologist Henry Loomis (Bailey) for the risky expedition.
Complicating their mission is a family of civilians whose ship is destroyed in a spinosaur attack. “Obviously, it all goes wrong and becomes a situation that you enjoy watching as a Jurassic fan,” Edwards told EW. “Once you’re on the adventure, the film doesn’t let go until the end credits.”
Edwards has been vocal about paying tribute to the original Jurassic Park — which was light on computer-generated effects but heavy on “suspense and tension” — and that attention to detail definitely shows in Rebirth’s first trailer. If all goes to plan, the Jurassic franchise may finally have the reboot it truly deserves.
