(Image: Universal Pictures)
With the first trailer for "Jurassic World: Rebirth," the seventh installment in the "Jurassic Park" franchise, set to drop soon ahead of its July 2, 2025 release, Universal Pictures has unveiled a new wave of stills, an exclusive interview, and previously unreleased plot details through Vanity Fair.
The Vanity Fair feature describes the film's setting five years after the events of "Jurassic World: Dominion." Following the park disaster and the subsequent release of dinosaurs into the wild, the creatures have become a constant nuisance. As a result, humanity's initial reverence and love for these animals have soured into deep-seated animosity—a sentiment that mirrors the audience's own growing disappointment with the franchise after several declining sequels.
(Image: Universal Pictures)
Franchise co-producer Frank Marshall revealed that it was David Koepp, the returning screenwriter from the first two "Jurassic Park" films, who conceived of the idea of human fatigue with dinosaurs. Marshall explained that Koepp proposed that dinosaurs are now passé and people are tired of them because they're an inconvenience. He noted that people no longer visit them in museums or petting zoos; they're just in the way. Furthermore, the climate is not conducive to their survival, so they are getting sick and dying. However, there is a region near the equator where the climate, temperature, and environment are perfect for them.
Marshall and fellow producer Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two films, both agreed that "Rebirth" needed to refocus on generating fear. Marshall stated that while CGI is a great tool, it can make you lazy because you know you can do anything with it, but this type of film needs to have a tangible sense of danger. He emphasized that every scene and every dinosaur in "Rebirth" is designed to provoke a fear response in the audience.
(Image: Universal Pictures)
Speaking of scenes, the primary setting is a new island near the equator that once housed the original Jurassic Park's research laboratory and is now abandoned. Thirty years later, the dinosaurs developed in that derelict facility are not only still alive but have grown stronger. Marshall explained that these were the dinosaurs that weren't successful experiments, and some mutations have occurred. He added that they are all based on research from the original species but will look a bit different.
Director Gareth Edwards ("Godzilla" 2014) pointed out that some of the new dinosaur designs incorporate elements from the Xenomorph in the first "Alien" film and the Blurrg from "Star Wars."
(Image: Universal Pictures)
Edwards previously teased that the focus of "Rebirth" is to bring back the long-absent tension and restore the sense of novelty and wonder the original film delivered. He recalled his own unforgettable childhood experience of being terrified by the first movie, stating that "Jurassic Park" was like a horror film in the witness protection program, though most people don't see it that way. He admitted to being scared out of his wits in the theater during the T-Rex attack, calling it one of the most masterfully directed sequences in history and a very high bar to try and emulate.
(Image: Universal Pictures)
The studio previously revealed that the island's climate is similar to that of prehistoric Earth and that the DNA of three massive dinosaurs there holds the key ingredient for a certain medicine. It has now been disclosed that this medicine is a cure for heart disease. These three dinosaurs conveniently span land, sea, and air, and the protagonists are hired to venture to the island to extract their DNA.
Scarlett Johansson, who plays the lead character Zora, has often mentioned being a "Jurassic Park" fan since childhood. In the interview, she shared that she and her sister once slept in a small "Jurassic Park"-themed tent in their bedroom for a year. Johansson confessed that whenever news broke about a new "Jurassic" film being in development, she would forward it to her agent and say, "Hey, I'm available!" Even in 2020, while she was filming "Black Widow" on the same studio lot as "Dominion," she was incredibly excited about the prospect of visiting their set.
(Image: Universal Pictures)
About a year after wrapping "Black Widow," Johansson was chatting with Spielberg, who remembered her well-known love for "Jurassic Park." She was thrilled but held back from telling him about the tent, wanting to appear professional in front of the legendary director and fearing he might think she was an overly enthusiastic fan. In hindsight, she regrets it, feeling that expressing one's fandom is a common and positive thing. A month after their conversation, Johansson received the script for "Rebirth" and was formally invited to join the franchise.
(Image: Universal Pictures)
The rest of the cast includes newcomers Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Jonathan Bailey, Luna Blaise, Ed Skrein, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. Johansson plays Zora, a covert operations specialist hired to lead a team to extract the DNA from the three dinosaurs. Ali portrays her partner, Duncan Kincaid; Bailey is the paleontologist Henry Loomis; and Friend plays Martin Krebs, a representative of the pharmaceutical corporation funding the mission.
Edwards described "Rebirth" as both a heist film and a culmination of elements from all of Spielberg's works. He compared the dynamic between the characters played by Bailey, Ali, and Johansson to the shark-hunting trio of Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, and Roy Scheider in "Jaws."
via： Vanity Fair