Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Plot

Six months after the Jurassic World incident and the Indominus rex's death, a small mercenary team arrives on the abandoned Isla Nublar to collect DNA from its remains in the lagoon. After a two-man team collects a bone sample, the Mosasaurus devours their submersible. Rexy the Tyrannosaurus attacks the team, but the surviving members escape with the sample by helicopter. The Mosasaurus kills one of the men and swims through the partially open underwater gates into the open ocean.

Three years later, a U.S. Senate committee debates whether Isla Nublar's dinosaurs should be saved from an impending volcanic eruption. Chaotician Dr. Ian Malcolm testifies that the dinosaurs should perish naturally to correct the wrongful cloning done by John Hammond. Meanwhile, Jurassic World's former operations manager, Claire Dearing, has established the Dinosaur Protection Group to save the animals. After the Senate votes against government involvement in rescuing the animals, Hammond's ex-partner, Sir Benjamin Lockwood, invites Claire to his Northern California estate. Lockwood and his assistant, Eli Mills, reveal a plan to relocate the dinosaurs to a new island sanctuary. Claire is needed to reactivate the park's tracking system to locate the animals, particularly Blue, the last surviving Velociraptor. She recruits Owen Grady, former Velociraptor trainer, to help locate Blue.

On Isla Nublar, Claire and ex-park technician Franklin Webb reactivate the online tracking system. Owen, paleo-veterinarian Zia Rodriguez, and a mercenary team led by Ken Wheatley, track and find Blue. The encounter escalates, resulting in Blue being shot and Wheatley tranquilizing Owen. Wheatley abandons Owen, Claire, and Franklin on the island while forcibly taking Zia hostage to treat Blue. A volcanic eruption begins, causing a massive dinosaur stampede and forcing the trio to escape. The ship, loaded with captured dinosaurs, departs as the remaining dinosaurs are left behind to die in the eruption. The trio sneaks aboard the ship and helps Zia transfuse Blue with Tyrannosaurus blood from Rexy to save her life.

The captured dinosaurs are actually being transported to the Lockwood estate, where Lockwood's young, orphaned 9-year-old granddaughter, Maisie, overhears Mills and auctioneer Mr. Eversoll secretly planning to sell the dinosaurs on the black market. They will also preview the Indoraptor, a weaponized, transgenic dinosaur created by geneticist Dr. Henry Wu using Indominus rex and Velociraptor DNA. Wu needs Blue's DNA to create an improved Indoraptor that follows commands, unaware that her blood is no longer pure. After Maisie informs Lockwood about the auction, he confronts Mills, who refuses to obey his orders and betrays him by smothering him to death with a pillow. Maisie is later revealed to have been cloned from Lockwood's deceased daughter and the reason why Hammond ended their association. The auctioned dinosaurs are being immediately shipped out. Franklin evades capture and frees Zia, but Owen and Claire have been apprehended. Owen incites a Stygimoloch into breaking open their cell. The two encounter and meet Maisie and learn the Indoraptor is being sold despite Wu's protests that it is a prototype.

Production

Development

During early conversations about the 2015 film Jurassic World, executive producer Steven Spielberg told director Colin Trevorrow that he was interested in having several more films made. Trevorrow said in 2014 that they wanted to create something "less arbitrary and episodic" that could possibly "arc into a series that would feel like a complete story". Trevorrow also said he would direct the sequel if asked, but later decided against this, saying he would be involved "in some way, but not as director". He felt that other directors could bring different qualities to future films.

Trevorrow said in June 2015 that he was interested in seeing a Jurassic Park film made by one of several unnamed Spanish horror film directors. Jurassic World producer Frank Marshall met with Trevorrow and Universal Pictures later that month to discuss a sequel. Trevorrow suggested that the sequel would not involve a dinosaur theme park, as he felt future films could instead explore the idea of dinosaurs and humans co-existing. He said the film could involve dinosaurs going open source, resulting in multiple entities around the world being able to create their own dinosaurs for various uses.

Pre-production

Universal announced a sequel in July 2015, referred to as Jurassic World 2, scheduled for a June 22, 2018 release date in the US. Trevorrow was announced to write the script with his writing partner Derek Connolly, as they had for Jurassic World. It was also announced that the film would be produced by Marshall, and that Spielberg and Trevorrow would act as executive producers, while Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard would reprise their roles from the previous film. Pratt and Howard were paid $8 and $10 million for their involvement, respectively. Unlike its predecessors, Trevorrow said the sequel would not involve "a bunch of dinosaurs chasing people on an island", an idea that he found repetitive. Trevorrow spoke of the film's possible open-source storyline: "It's almost like InGen is Mac, but what if PC gets their hands on it? What if there are 15 different entities around the world who can make a dinosaur?"

By October 2015, horror director J. A. Bayona was being considered to direct the film. However, he chose instead to proceed with the World War Z sequel, a project for which he had already signed on. He dropped out of that project three months later due to other commitments, and was hired as Jurassic World 2 director in April 2016, with Belén Atienza and Patrick Crowley joining Marshall as producers. Spielberg, Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy had been impressed by Bayona's 2012 film, The Impossible, and initially considered having him direct Jurassic World, which he declined as he felt there was not enough time for production. Trevorrow wanted Bayona to direct the sequel after seeing his 2007 horror film, The Orphanage.

Before he was hired, Bayona had met with Trevorrow and became enthused with the project after being told of the script's second half, which would play out like a haunted house film. After Bayona was hired, Trevorrow said of the film: "We're moving it into new territory. J. A. Bayona is an incredible director and I know he'll push the boundaries of what a 'Jurassic' movie is. I think it's important that we take risks. A franchise must evolve or perish". Bayona later confirmed the film would be the second chapter in a planned Jurassic World trilogy. He and Trevorrow worked closely throughout production. The film, under the working title of Ancient Futures, was in full pre-production as of July 2016, with storyboards being designed. Andy Nicholson was hired as the film's production designer. He spent four weeks with Bayona in Barcelona, discussing reference pictures and background details, as well as Bayona's ideas for the Lockwood mansion.

Writing

Although Spielberg was heavily involved in the development of ideas for Jurassic World, he had Trevorrow and Connolly devise their own ideas for the sequel. He retained final approval on the project. In June 2015, about two weeks after the theatrical release of Jurassic World, Trevorrow embarked on a road trip from Los Angeles to his home state of Vermont. Connolly agreed to accompany him so they could discuss a basic set of ideas Trevorrow had for the film. During their eight-day trip, they began work on the script and devised the basic story.

Trevorrow said the story was inspired by a quote from Dr. Alan Grant in the first film: "Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution, have suddenly been thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea of what to expect?" He also said it was heavily influenced by the idea that "a mistake made a long time ago just can't be undone", and stated further that the film deals with themes of political megalomania, greed, and "making decisions with lack of care for how it affects people's lives".

The film is also based on concepts from Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park (1990) and its sequel The Lost World (1995), and includes dialogue from the first novel. Isla Nublar's volcano is in the first novel, and the writers chose to incorporate it into the film's plot. Trevorrow compared the destruction of Isla Nublar to "the burning down of a church or a temple. I honestly think it's like killing off a character in a way, and if you're going to do that, as long as you approach it with the proper respect and acknowledgement that you understand how indelible and permanent what you're doing is, then hopefully people will have an emotional response but they won't hate you for it". The idea to include a "silent partner" for John Hammond was also inspired by the Jurassic Park novel. Although the character of Benjamin Lockwood was not featured in the novel, the book depicts the early years leading up to the cloning of dinosaurs. This made Trevorrow realize there would have been many people involved in such a project, convincing him that someone like Lockwood would be among those people.

In his initial film treatment, Trevorrow had included story elements that Marshall and Crowley considered excessive for a single film. The producers felt it was important to include details about Owen and Claire's lives after the events of Jurassic World. Although the original ending was the same as the final film, Trevorrow had wanted to include more details about the integration of dinosaurs into the world. He chose to remove them to keep the story focused. The script's structure, Trevorrow said, was inspired by Spielberg's 2015 film Bridge of Spies, in which two seemingly unrelated stories "collide in the middle, and move on together". Trevorrow was also inspired by the 1975 film Three Days of the Condor: "It's one of those places where you think you know what the score is, and then everything changes, and then suddenly you don't know who to trust".

Casting

In October 2016, casting was underway for the role of a nine-year-old girl. Approximately 2,500 girls were interviewed for the part, which ultimately went to Isabella Sermon, marking her film debut. Tom Holland - who previously starred in The Impossible - had discussed a role in the film with Bayona, but did not believe he would be available because of scheduling conflicts. Toby Jones, Rafe Spall, and Justice Smith were cast at the end of the year.

Daniella Pineda, Ted Levine and James Cromwell were cast in early 2017, while BD Wong confirmed his return as Dr. Henry Wu. Geraldine Chaplin, who had appeared in each of Bayona's previous films, was also cast. To maintain secrecy, the Ancient Futures title was used in the casting phase. During auditions, references to dinosaurs were replaced with animals such as lions and grizzly bears. To convince the studio that Pineda was right for the role of Zia, Bayona had her demonstrate she could perform comedy and drama scenes, as well as improvise. Pineda auditioned seven times before being given the role. She auditioned for Bayona, Atienza, and Crowley but did not meet the cast until she arrived in England for filming.

Howard expressed interest in seeing characters from earlier Jurassic Park films return for the fifth installment. In April 2017, Goldblum was confirmed to reprise his role from the first two films as Dr. Ian Malcolm. Bayona considered Malcolm a "great character!" Marshall said: "The world has changed a lot since Ian Malcolm went to Jurassic Park and we need his point of view now more than ever. He told us about chaos theory, he was right".

Filming

Filming began on February 24, 2017, and the shoot included locations in England; most of the filming there took place at Pinewood Studios. Because of its large sound stages, the facility was considered perfect for the film's many interior scenes. After England, filming moved to Hawaii, which stood in for Isla Nublar. A post-credits scene is set at the Paris Las Vegas resort, where loose pteranodons from Lockwood's estate land atop the resort's Eiffel Tower. Scenes were also expected to be shot at Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales, but ultimately no filming took place there.

Óscar Faura served as cinematographer. The film is the first entry in the Jurassic Park series to be shot in CinemaScope, a widescreen 2.40:1 aspect ratio, as Bayona wanted to present the film as "bigger" and "more epic". The crew used Arri Alexa 65 cameras exclusively, making it the first film in the series to be shot digitally. Several scenes were shot to reference various films including From Here to Eternity (1953) and Dracula (1979), as well as Spielberg's films Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

Spielberg was shown scenes from the film during production and offered Bayona his opinions. Bayona said that making the film was the biggest challenge of his life. The original cut of the film was approximately two hours and 45 minutes, which the filmmakers considered too long. It was trimmed to two hours and eight minutes for the final cut. One scene removed for runtime reasons revealed the character of Zia to be a lesbian, an idea that came from Bayona and Trevorrow. The two chose not to include the deleted scenes on the film's home video release, believing there was nothing that would be of interest to viewers. The Pteranodons in Las Vegas is one scene that was cut but eventually added as the film's post-credits scene prior to the theatrical release.

During filming, and in between takes, Bayona used an iPod to play different types of music on set to inspire the actors, as he had done with his previous films. He also played sound effects from other films in the series, including a T. rex roar that he sometimes used to get a natural reaction from the actors. In particular, Bayona played unexpected sounds and loud music to scare Smith for certain scenes, as his character is portrayed as easily frightened. Bayona and Pratt discussed each scene involving Owen's character before it was shot, and many of Pratt's ideas were used in the film. Discussing Levine's character, Bayona said: "He came with this idea of creating this kind of military man. He just wanted to portray the most hateable character possible. [...] And he was so creative on set, trying to give ideas, bringing story notes to make this character more and more hateable".

Creatures on screen

The film's dinosaurs were created using a combination of animatronics and computer-generated imagery (CGI). Special effects artist Neal Scanlan served as the film's creature effects supervisor, while Vickery and Alex Wuttke were visual effects supervisors. Scanlan worked on the animatronic dinosaurs, while Vickery and his ILM team created versions of the dinosaurs through CGI. ILM animators in Vancouver worked on dinosaur stampede scenes, while ILM's London studio created the remaining creature scenes. Approximately 52 ILM animators worked on the film. In total, the film contains approximately 1,200 visual effects shots.

Scanlan worked closely with Bayona and Vickery to create the creatures. Vickery and ILM did extensive research to accurately create and depict the dinosaurs, which included consulting with paleontologists. The ILM team also referred to elephants and rhinos to determine how the dinosaurs should move and behave. Dinosaur expert John Hankla, of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, served as an advisor on the film. Hankla also provided several dinosaur fossil recreations for the film, including an accurately sized Velociraptor skeleton that appears in the background at the Lockwood Estate's library of dinosaur skeletons. After reading fan thoughts on dinosaurs and speaking with children, Bayona realized that dinosaur textures and colors were often brought up and said: "I thought that was the area where I could play with. They feel somehow a little bit more exotic and richer in this movie". New research had also suggested that real dinosaurs were more colorful and brighter than previously thought.

The film features more dinosaurs than any previous film in the series. Bayona wanted to include several new dinosaurs never seen in earlier films, including Allosaurus, Baryonyx, Carnotaurus, Sinoceratops, Stygimoloch, and the fictional Indoraptor. Initially, the film was to feature two Indoraptors, a white one and a black one, the latter of which would kill the former in what Bayona considered similar to Cain and Abel. The white Indoraptor was eventually removed from the script as the story was considered detailed enough without it. Dilophosaurus was featured in the script, but its scene went un-filmed as Bayona decided it was not necessary. The scene would take place on board the Arcadia, in which Owen and Claire would encounter the Dilophosaurus in a cage. Bayona felt that the scenes on board the ship were long enough already. Baryonyx and Carnotaurus were among the creatures created through CGI.

Having directed Jurassic World, Trevorrow was familiar with how animatronics worked and wrote scenes for the sequel that would allow for their use. For example, animatronics are incapable of certain actions such as running. The film features more animatronic dinosaurs than any previous sequel, and the animatronics used were more technologically advanced than in the earlier films. Five animatronic dinosaurs were created for the film, whereas the previous film featured only one. More animatronics were used because the film features closer interaction between humans and dinosaurs than its predecessor, including a scene where Howard rides atop the sedated T. rex. Bayona said that animatronics "are very helpful on set, especially for the actors so they have something to perform against. There's an extra excitement if they can act in front of something real". Scanlan felt animatronics were not best for every scene: "In some ways it will have an impact on your shooting schedule; you have to take time to film with an animatronic. In the balance, we ask ourselves if it is economically and artistically more valuable to do it that way, or as a post-production effect".

Music

The musical score was composed by Michael Giacchino, who also composed the previous film. John Williams' themes from earlier Jurassic Park scores were incorporated by Giacchino. A soundtrack album was released on June 15, 2018, by Back Lot Music.

Marketing

The film's title and first poster were unveiled on June 22, 2017. A six-second clip was released five months later. A full-length trailer debuted on December 7, 2017, preceded by several teaser trailers and a behind-the-scenes featurette of the film.

That month, Universal launched a website for the Dinosaur Protection Group. It included miscellaneous information about the group and its effort to save the island's dinosaurs, as well as a video featuring Howard, Pineda and Smith as their characters. The website also explained that Isla Sorna, the second island of dinosaurs featured in earlier films, is no longer inhabited. The website was designed by Chaos Theorem, a creative digital storytelling company founded by Jack Anthony Ewins and Timothy Glover, who worked previously on the Masrani Global website for Jurassic World along with their team Manuel Bejarano, Samuel Phillips, Ross Lane and Jaroslav Kosmina. Trevorrow and Chaos Theorem also created a website and campaign for "Extinction Now!" (the antithesis to the Dinosaur Protection Group), which was launched shortly before the film's release. The campaign included a found-footage clip of a Tyrannosaurus loose in San Diego, a reference to The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

A second trailer aired during Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018. A 30-second teaser trailer was released on April 13, followed by a full trailer five days later. Several of the trailers and commercials included scenes from the film's ending that depict the Tyrannosaurus rex and the Mosasaurus now loose in the world. This frustrated Trevorrow, who preferred not to show such scenes before the film's release.

Universal spent $145 million on prints and advertisements promoting the film and had the benefit of a global marketing campaign by its partners valued at an additional $185 million, more than double the value of the previous film's partner program. The campaign included nine partners—Dairy Queen, Doritos, Dr Pepper, Ferrero SpA, Jeep, Juicy Fruit, Kellogg's, M&M's, and Skittles—who aired television commercials and sold products to promote the film. The global marketing campaign consisted of 1.3 billion promotional items, including 100 million boxes of Kellogg's products and 15 million packages of Kinder Joy candy by Ferrero. Dairy Queen, a returning partner from the previous film, sold "Jurassic Chomp" ice cream desserts in collectable cups, while Doritos and Dr Pepper marketed versions of their products that featured images of the film's dinosaurs. For Super Bowl LII, Trevorrow directed a Jeep commercial starring Goldblum and featuring a T. rex. Within 24 hours of its release, the commercial received 39.7 million online views, more than any film trailer watched online following its Super Bowl television debut. Universal also teamed up with Amazon for a marketing stunt where a dinosaur-sized box was driven around Los Angeles on a truck to promote the film.

Release

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom had its premiere at the WiZink Center in Madrid, Spain, on May 21, 2018. The film's international theatrical release began in Singapore and Malaysia on June 7, followed by the United Kingdom, India, Italy, South Korea and Angola on June 8. It was released in the United States on June 22, 2018.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was released digitally on September 4, 2018, and on Blu-ray, DVD, Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray on September 18.

Reception

Box office

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom grossed $417.7 million in the United States and Canada and $892.7 million in other territories for a total worldwide gross of $1.310 billion, against a production budget of up to $464.5 million.

The film crossed the $1 billion mark on July 5, 2018, becoming the 35th film of all time to reach this milestone, and the seventh film for Universal. It also made Universal the second studio (after Disney) to have at least two films in three different franchises make $1 billion worldwide, alongside Fast & Furious and Despicable Me. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $222.8 million when factoring together all expenses and revenues, making it the eighth most profitable release of 2018. Using the highest probable budget by Forbes, the film made a net profit of $185.5 million, not factoring in marketing costs or revenues from merchandise or home entertainment.

In December 2017, a survey from Fandango indicated that Fallen Kingdom was one of the most anticipated films of 2018. Initial projections three weeks before its release had the film grossing $130–150 million in its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, with the magazine BoxOffice estimating a total of $325–380 million for its final domestic gross. By the week of its release, the low-end projections had reached $135 million.

The film was released on June 22, 2018, in 4,475 theaters (the second-widest release ever behind Despicable Me 3), grossing $58.7 million on its opening day, the second-highest of the franchise and 28th-best on record. The film grossed $15.3 million from Thursday night previews at 3,600 theaters, down from the $18.5 million grossed by Jurassic World. It ended up debuting at $148 million, the 20th-best opening weekend of all time and second-highest for Universal. It also marked the second time two films opened to over $100 million on back-to-back weekends, following Incredibles 2's $182.7 million debut the week before, since May 2007 when Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End opened to $121.6 million and $114.7 million, respectively. The film was particularly popular among families, leading to an opening weekend that exceeded expectations. In its second weekend, the film made $60.9 million, a drop of 59% and less than the $105.8 million made by Jurassic World in its sophomore weekend. In its third weekend, it made $28.6 million.

Overseas, the film was released in 48 countries between June 6 and June 8, including France, Germany, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Israel, Italy, Russia, and Spain. It was projected to gross $130–145 million on its opening weekend. It made $20.2 million on its first day, including $1.4 million in France and $1 million in Indonesia. In South Korea, it grossed $9.7 million (₩10.3 billion) and sold over 1 million tickets, setting opening day records for both (beating The Mummy's ₩7.4 billion and Avengers: Infinity War's 980,000). It went on to have an international debut of $151.1 million, including $8 million from IMAX screenings. Its largest opening markets were South Korea ($27.2 million), the UK ($19.9 million), France ($10 million), Spain ($9.5 million), and Germany ($9.1 million).

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 47% of 430 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.40/10. The website's consensus reads: "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom adds another set piece-packed entry to the blockbuster franchise, although genuinely thrilling moments are in increasingly short supply." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on 59 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 82% overall positive score. The Hollywood Reporter found that some critics praised the film's visuals and its break from recent franchise installments with its darker tone, but noted criticism from others regarding the screenplay, "undeveloped concepts", and the feeling that the film franchise had run its course.

Variety's Owen Gleiberman called the film better than the first Jurassic World but wrote "... [Fallen Kingdom] ends up being just a so-so ride. I hope the next one is an all-out ride—but that for the first time since Spielberg's 1993 original, it's actually a great one. The audience for this series has proved that it will turn out in mega-droves". Lindsey Bahr of the Associated Press wrote: "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will not stand up to rigorous scrutiny, and yet, it's kind of an enjoyable, preposterous and thrilling ride that ticks through nostalgia beats like a shopping list". The Boston Globe's Ty Burr likened the film to a "Universal Studios theme park ride" noting: "It's enough for a fun fright night at the movies but lacks anything else: character, mystery, wonder, danger. The film's a rush for an audience that only wants the high".

In a more critical assessment, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said "...this sequel has the perfunctory vibe that comes from filmmakers who cynically believe the public will buy anything T. rex-related, no matter how shoddy the goods or warmed-over the plot". Senior Editor Matt Goldberg of Collider also criticized the screenplay stating that "the film is too lazy to even bother with the modest housekeeping of explaining its characters' motives". The Verge's Bryan Bishop was equally critical: "Like its predecessor, Fallen Kingdom is overstuffed with ethical conundrums, and not sophisticated enough to fully engage with them ... the movie's villains become such cartoony caricatures that it's impossible to take Fallen Kingdom's attempted philosophical musings seriously". Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica called the film a B movie consisting of "a sixth-grade sketchbook mash of dino-murder, cartoonish villains, and plot holes", while Travis M. Andrews of The Washington Post said the film makes dinosaurs boring.

Sequel

The sequel, Jurassic World Dominion, began filming in February 2020, with Trevorrow returning as director and co-writer. Emily Carmichael is credited as co-screenwriter, with the script based on a story by Trevorrow and Connolly. Trevorrow also serves as executive producer with Steven Spielberg, while Marshall and Crowley served as producers. Pratt, Howard, Johnson, Sy, Pineda and Smith reprise their roles from the previous two films, while original Jurassic Park stars Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill also return to the franchise. Like Fallen Kingdom, filming took place at Pinewood Studios. Jurassic World Dominion was released on June 10, 2022.