Jurassic World Rebirth | Gareth Edwards said to be returning to direct sequel

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Director Gareth Edwards, Scarlett Johansson and other starry cast members are said to be in talks to return for a sequel to this year’s dino-soaring hit, Jurassic World Rebirth. This year’s sauropod sequel Jurassic World Rebirth made less than its predecessor, but for Universal Pictures, the sums still add up. Where 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion ... Jurassic World Rebirth | Gareth Edwards said to be returning to direct sequel

Director Gareth Edwards, Scarlett Johansson and other starry cast members are said to be in talks to return for a sequel to this year’s dino-soaring hit, Jurassic World Rebirth.

This year’s sauropod sequel Jurassic World Rebirth made less than its predecessor, but for Universal Pictures, the sums still add up.

Where 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion cost a frightening $465m or thereabouts (partly due to the pandemic), director Gareth Edwards managed to bring in his scaly adventure for around $180m or perhaps a bit more. So while it didn’t quite crack $1bn like the last film did, it still made a heck of a lot of money comparative to Universal’s investment.

Reviews were more cautiously positive than last time around, and so it’s not too surprising that a report is circulating that Edwards is being asked back to direct a sequel. The Insneider (via IO9) is the source behind the scoop, the report adding that Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali are all in talks to return.

Again, there’s not much of a surprise there, but it suggests we’re in for a direct continuation of the previous film’s story, as written by David Koepp.

For Rebirth, Edwards was given the chance to apply some of the filmmaking techniques he came up with for his mid-budget sci-fi film The Creator. For that 2023 film, he shot with a minimal crew on real locations, enhancing his footage afterwards with CGI. Despite coming onto the project late, Edwards was surprised to find that producers at Amblin – including Spielberg himself – were happy to let the filmmaker try the same thing on Rebirth.

“I thought I’d get a lot of pushback from them and I didn’t,” Edwards told Film Stories earlier this year. “For instance, even shooting in all the jungles, there was a lot of conversation early on about, ‘Let’s build a jungle in a soundstage.’ Instead, we went to these national parks in the middle of Thailand, with these ancient trees, and filmed there. Even though it was really hard to get access to these places.”

The resulting film saw Scarlett Johansson play Zora Bennett, a mercenary leading a team of specialists to yet another dinosaur island. Their mission: find and bring back a selection of giant lizard samples that can be turned into a potentially life-saving new medicine. Not everything quite goes to plan.

Edwards delivered some superb visuals and set-pieces in Rebirth – including a thrilling T-rex rapids moment – though the overall consensus appeared to be that it was a solid piece of entertainment rather than bold new direction for the franchise.

Universal hasn’t yet confirmed or denied the report, but we’ll update you as we hear more.