Holding Out Hope for Jurassic World Rebirth
Can ‘Rebirth’ bring new life to an almost extinct franchise?
A fan was born
In 1993, I was invited by a friend to go see Jurassic Park in the theater with their dad, little did I know the life long obsession that would spark, passing on to my own child.
I was just finishing 4th grade, and heading into the summer, Jurassic Park was being advertised everywhere! McDonald’s had Supersized Collectible cups, Kenner came out with a line of Jurassic Park toys with special “realistic” feeling dinosaurs and totally cool Dino-Damage! There were pins, hats, shirts… so many forms of souvenirs that to collect, one needed to “spare no expense!”
My mom insisted that I read at least the junior novelization before seeing the film, and I did. I also ended up buying and reading the original Jurassic Park novel written by Michael Crichton, and any book that was officially licensed Jurassic Park products. I even recorded the Making of Documentary narrated by James Earl Jones, on VHS.
To say I was absolutely hooked was an understatement!
The first film was a masterpiece, although it definitely deviated from the source material, it was an instant hit!
Then came “The Lost World”
Very quickly following the publishing of sequel novel, Universal Studios wasted no time to create the next blockbuster film in the franchise in 1997. As a diehard JP fan, I read the sequel and was ready for the big screen! Though not as solid as the first, The Lost World: Jurassic Park was full of fan service, although it hasn’t aged as well as the first in my opinion.
The Lost World was the last film in the franchise that benefited on having source material to be based off, despite how loosely that was, and the last to be directed by Steven Spielberg. I believe both factors have impacted the rest of the franchise.
A Jurassic-sized misstep, and a reboot
Jurassic Park 3 was the film that started my loss of interest. Don’t get me wrong, I watched it a quantity of times that I am ashamed to admit due to the amount of hate I have for the film. Needless to say, the film was not as successful as the previous two films.
Universal didn’t stop there, as the Jurassic World reboot spanned three additional films that leaned more into the scifi adventure, rather than the scifi survival horror genre with monster making. The films were fun, payed homage to the original trilogy, but was lack luster. Many expected the Jurassic franchise to end with Dominion.
Something has survived
Universal released trailers for the new installment called Jurassic World Rebirth. I was immediately excited as it felt like the survival horror aspect was coming back. Also David Koepp, script writer for Jurassic Park, is returning for this film. There are scenes that are very familiar to fans of the books, and it appears that Koepp wanted to incorporate things he could not with the original film into this one.
The cast is top-notch, the synopsis is new with familiar notes, which could work for, or against the movie. We will only know if this movie matches the hype the trailers have already touted when it hits theaters in July. It is safe to admit that I am cautiously optimistic that this could be an opportunity to bring back the excitement that was first experienced when dinosaurs first walked across the big screen. Jurassic World Rebirth hits theaters everywhere on July 2nd.
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