Colin Trevorrow pulled off the impossible in 2015 with Jurassic World, as he brought a 14-year big-screen drought for the beloved Jurassic Park franchise to an end and injected new life into it. Even if critics weren’t entirely impressed, the movie took in a whopping $1.67 billion worldwide, compared to Jurassic Park III‘s $368.7 million in 2001. This injected enough enthusiasm to ensure the franchise would stick around for years to come.
Last year, Gareth Edwards helmed Jurassic World Rebirth, and while it didn’t reach the financial heights of its predecessors, it successfully found a new formula for the series that took the excitement out of a park and into the wild. While a sequel is on the way, Edwards ended up leaving the project.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom director J.A. Bayona is a frontrunner to helm the upcoming sequel. Rebirth stars Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey are all expected to return.
Since launching in 1993, the Jurassic Park franchise has seen its ups and downs, to say the least. The original Steven Spielberg-directed movie is nothing short of revolutionary, with his directorial talents managing to entirely elevate the campy concept of dinosaurs being brought back to life. Spielberg returned for the sequel and, while still a financial success, The Lost World: Jurassic Park didn’t resonate quite as strongly with critics. Joe Johnston directed Jurassic Park III, which continued the diminishing returns of the series, resulting in the franchise’s stagnation.
Jurassic World was a financial sensation, though anyone old enough to remember the original movie couldn’t help but criticize how similar it felt to the original movie and how it didn’t deliver as much freshness into the concept as many had hoped. Fallen Kingdom, however, leaned much more into the realm of monster movies, including a thrilling chase through a creepy mansion as our heroes evaded deadly dinosaurs in its finale.
Bayona took a much bigger swing with his horror-inspired narrative, and while it didn’t earn as strong of reviews as what came before him, it still took in $1.3 billion worldwide. Trevorrow would then return to the series for Jurassic World: Dominion, which largely closed the book on the characters from both the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World series.
Given that Edwards’ breakout movie was 2014’s Godzilla, he similarly approached Rebirth as a monster movie more than anything else. Bayona’s penchant for big swings could make him the perfect choice to continue this narrative, and we’d rather a filmmaker who takes bigger risks at the helm than someone who repeats what’s already been done.
The Jurassic World Rebirth sequel doesn’t yet have a release date.
Would you like to see Bayona return? Let us know in the comments below!