The early-stage marketing for Gareth Edwards’ Jurassic Park Rebirth is sneakily pointing to one of the best features of the original trilogy returning for Scarlett Johansson’s new age of dinosaur action. The sequel that will act as a soft reboot of the franchise will focus on Scarlett Johansson’s character Zora Bennett, a special operative who is hired to help a paleontologist track down several of the only dinosaurs left on the planet to acquire their DNA. So far, the human characters played by Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey have been the primary focus of the movie’s promotional images.
Anticipation is high for the franchise to move in a new direction after the Jurassic World trilogy ended with a much-maligned whimper with Jurassic World Dominion. Based on what is known about Jurassic World Rebirth‘s plot, it seems like Gareth Edwards and screenwriter David Koepp are doing just that, and in doing so they may be reviving some of the elements that made the original Jurassic Park an immortal classic. One key element of the movie’s early marketing points to that revival more directly than any other.
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Jurassic World Rebirth’s Marketing Is Hiding The Dinosaurs (& That’s Great)
Very Little Has Been Given Away About Which Dinosaurs Will Feature Prominently
For the most part, the early marketing materials for Jurassic World Rebirth have not revealed the dinosaurs that will be at the movie’s center, which is a great indication that they will receive the proper amount of deference in the movie itself. While some images of the new T. Rex and the seafaring dinosaurs have surfaced in advance of the movie’s first full trailer, a majority of the teaser images have been focused on Scarlett Johansson’s character Zora Bennett and her team. So much emphasis on the human characters suggests that the movie may have the same focus.
Jurassic Park Franchise – Key Details |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Movie |
Release Date |
Budget |
Box Office |
RT Tomatometer Score |
RT Popcornmeter Score |
Jurassic Park |
1993 |
$63 million |
$1.058 billion |
91% |
91% |
Jurassic Park: The Lost World |
1997 |
$73 million |
$618.6 million |
53% |
52% |
Jurassic Park III |
2001 |
$93 million |
$368.8 million |
49% |
37% |
Jurassic World |
2015 |
$150-$215 million |
$1.671 billion |
72% |
78% |
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom |
2018 |
$432 million |
$1.31 billion |
47% |
48% |
Jurassic World Dominion |
2022 |
$265 million |
$1.004 billion |
29% |
77% |
That can only be a good thing for Rebirth, as keeping the dinosaurs largely hidden will make their full on-screen appearances feel earned, and restore some of the majesty and mystique that was so evident in the first Jurassic Park. The most memorable scenes from the movie, like the first appearance of Tyrannosaurus Rex after he broke out of his paddock, for example, are so impactful because of the build-up. The dinosaurs still felt special at that point, truly majestic giants out of place in time, and Jurassic World Rebirth can restore some of that grandeur.
The Jurassic World Movies’ CG Spectacle Made The Dinosaurs Feel Less Special
They Were Essentially Lost In The Visual Chaos Of The New World’s Setting
The Jurassic Park movies never really lost their respect for the dinosaurs, both as a source of fear and as a source of awe. Even the poorly-reviewed Jurassic Park III introduced the Spinosaurus, a truly massive and terrifying beast whose presence dominated the screen. That deference to the dinosaurs was lost in the Jurassic World movies as they pivoted towards more CGI-heavy creature constructions. As the plot of Jurassic World itself noted, hybrid dinosaurs like the Indominus Rex and the Indoraptor were created to entertain a public that had become “bored” with dinosaurs.
Jurassic World Rebirth director Gareth Edwards has experience with giant creatures, as he was behind the movie that kicked off the Legendary Monsterverse, 2014’s Godzilla.
Unfortunately, the more sleek, fast-moving dinosaur designs made the dinosaurs themselves feel less special. As the scale and setting of each subsequent Jurassic World movie grew as the plots pivoted off the islands, they devolved into CGI spectacles as opposed to well-written, character-driven stories with dinosaurs that felt like living, breathing threats. Jurassic World Rebirth choosing to hide its dinosaurs in early marketing materials could mean that they’re moving back towards the original trilogy’s approach to presenting the dinosaurs.
Jurassic World Rebirth
- Release Date
-
July 2, 2025
- Director
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Gareth Edwards
- Writers
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David Koepp, Michael Crichton