Black Widow star Scarlett Johansson is confirmed to be “in talks” for Gareth Edwards’ upcoming Jurassic World sequel, dubbed Jurassic City.
Update: Just a brief update on this one, as it’s more of a confirmation than a blazing hot news story: various Hollywood trade outlets have confirmed that Scarlett Johansson is in talks to take the lead in Gareth Edwards’ upcoming Jurassic Park or Jurassic World sequel, currently dubbed Jurassic City.
Reports of Johansson’s involvement first surfaced on the 14th March, but now Deadline writes that it’s “looking quite solid” that the Black Widow star is at least talking about starring in the next Jurassic film. It’s a project that Universal is hustling through the pipeline quite urgently, with its release date currently scheduled for July 2025.
Rogue One and The Creator filmmaker Gareth Edwards is expected to start shooting on the sequel this summer.
Our original story follows…
14th March 2024: Jurassic Park – the 1993 one – remains as one of the most memorable films of that decade, a shining symbol of all of the things that the 90s often did so well: blending CGI with practical effects, telling smart, original and self-contained stories that didn’t try too hard to be franchise launchpads while keeping compelling characters front and centre, even in a movie stuffed to the gills with dinosaurs.
In the three decades since the film’s release, blockbuster filmmaking has forgotten some of those lessons, and given the lukewarm critical reception to 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion, even the Jurassic movies that have followed could do with going back and looking at the series’ genesis for a few quick pointers.
With Gareth Edwards now in charge of helming the next film, we’re hoping this might be the case. Edwards is a master at using CGI that stitches seamlessly into the worlds he creates. David Koepp, writer of the 1993 original, has also penned the script for the film. Even the title, Jurassic City, suggests that things might be a little smaller and self-contained than the more expansive and grand Jurassic World titling of the last three films.
All we need then is a bona fide movie star to hang the film on, and if reports are accurate, we might just be getting one. Hollywood scooper Jeff Sneider is reporting that none other than Scarlett Johansson is in line to lead the cast for the new film, which is set to enter production at the end of July.
This is unconfirmed at the moment, but would definitely mark a coup for the new project. The actor has done a great job of mixing huge studio projects like the Marvel films with roles that allow her to show greater range, having worked with filmmakers such as Noah Baumbach, Wes Anderson and the Coen Brothers over the course of the last decade.
We’ll see if this one comes to fruition, but if it proves to be true, we’d argue that Universal (last year’s most successful studio in Hollywood) seems to be making some adroit moves in order to refresh a series that was beginning to look a little bit tired. We’ll bring you more on this project as we hear it.
