Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a 2018 American science fiction action film directed by J. A. Bayona and written by Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow. The sequel to Jurassic World, it is the second installment in the Jurassic World film series and fifth overall of the Jurassic Park franchise. Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, BD Wong, and Jeff Goldblum reprise their roles from previous films in the series, with Toby Jones, Ted Levine, and Rafe Spall joining the cast. The story follows Owen Grady and Claire Dearing as they return to the fictional Central American island of Isla Nublar to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from an impending volcanic eruption, only to discover a mercenary team's ulterior motives to bring them to the US mainland.
Filming took place from February to July 2017 in the United Kingdom and in Hawaii. With a production budget of up to $465 million, Fallen Kingdom is the second-most expensive film ever made. Fallen Kingdom premiered at the WiZink Center in Madrid on May 21, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 22, by Universal Pictures. The film grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide, making it the third Jurassic film to pass the billion-dollar mark, and was the third-highest-grossing film of 2018 and peaked as the 12th-highest-grossing film of all time. It received mixed reviews from critics, who generally praised the visuals, cinematography, music and darker tone, while others criticized the screenplay. A sequel, titled Jurassic World Dominion, was released on June 10, 2022.
Plot
Six months after the Jurassic World incident and the Indominus rexThree 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 former partner, Sir Benjamin Lockwood, invites Claire to his Northern California estate. Lockwood and his aide, 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 capture Blue.
On Isla Nublar, Claire and former 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 volcano 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 to save her life.
The captured dinosaurs are actually being transported to the Lockwood estate, where Lockwood's young, orphaned 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 smothers 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 Maisie and learn the Indoraptor is being sold despite Wu's protests that it is a prototype.
Owen disrupts the auction by luring the Stygimoloch into the room. In the ensuing chaos, Wheatley tranquilizes the Indoraptor to extract a tooth as a trophy, but the hybrid, feigning unconsciousness, kills him, along with Eversoll and others, as it escapes. The Indoraptor chases Owen, Claire, and Maisie throughout the mansion until Blue, released by Zia, attacks it. After a standoff atop a high glass roof, both animals crash through it, killing the Indoraptor by impaling him on a ceratopsid skull though Blue is unharmed. When a hydrogen cyanide gas leak threatens the caged dinosaurs, Claire attempts to free them, by opening the cage doors. Owen convinces her not to open the subsequent outer door, but Maisie opens it to save them. As Mills attempts to escape with the Indominus rex bone, the Tyrannosaurus devours him and tramples the bone. Owen, Claire, Maisie, Zia, and Franklin escape, while Blue and the other released dinosaurs flee the estate grounds.
In a new U.S. Senate hearing, Dr. Malcolm declares the beginning of a new age, where humans and dinosaurs must coexist. The closing scenes depict the freed dinosaurs roaming the wilderness and outer urban areas.
Cast
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.
For the film's second half where dinosaurs are transported by boat to the mainland, Ecuador and Peru had both been scouted as possible filming locations and settings. Marshall thought that Cabo San Lucas would be ideal, but these locations ultimately did not work for the film's story. Although the film would be shot partly in England, Spielberg felt the country was too far from the fictional Isla Nublar to be used as the in-film setting for the second half. He and the producers did not want the film to spend too much time on a boat. Crowley stated: "Rather than making it a movie about traveling on a boat, which is not very exciting, you needed to get to the place".