The thing about dinosaurs is…they never go out of style. Kids and adults’ fascination with the prehistoric creatures never seems to fade. There have been great filmmakers, ranging from Ray Harryhausen to Steven Spielberg, who have been able to tap into human’s secret desire to encounter a dinosaur. However, up until now we haven’t gotten a big-budget dinosaur movie that focused on the terror and vulnerability of the hypothetical meeting.
Last year Jurassic World, caught industry analysts off-guard with the largest opening weekend ever and a sequel was quickly commissioned. Colin Trevorrow directed the blockbuster for Universal, but is moving over to the producer’s seat since he is busy prepping another tiny film, Star Wars: Episode 9. In an interview with El Mundo, Trevorrow explained the new apporach to Jurassic World 2 and why upstart director J.A. Bayona (A Monster Calls) was chosen for the job.
“The dinosaurs will be a parable of the treatment animals receive today: the abuse, medical experimentation, pets, having wild animals in zoos like prisons, the use the military has made of them, animals as weapons. The second part will be a very different movie that will explore new paths. For that reason, it was clear that it needed to be [J.A.] Bayona who would direct it, in order to have it grow and evolve with his very personal vision.”
Bayona has come on strong in recent years and has shown the ability to blend familial themes around extreme external disasters. No example is better than his film The Impossible, which starred Ewan MacGregor, Naomi Watts, and Tom Holland, as a family stuck in the devastation of a tsunami. If he is able to ground Jurassic World 2 with the same amount peril and life-threatening stakes, the sequel may have the opportunity to stand out from previous installments.
While using dinosaurs to address themes of animal abuse that exists in the real world, should also prove to be an effective approach. For all of the success that the Jurassic Park franchise had, it never really had more to say other than, “Don’t create killer dinosaurs.” As long as its not too heavy handed, the injection of new themes could indicate a more mature tone. And according to Bayona, a more adult and scary movie is exactly what we will be getting.
In an interview with Scified, Bayona specifically explains how his take on the Jurassic World franchise will differentiate itself from the previous installments.
“It will be darker and scarier than the previous film. Obviously when you have Chris Pratt it will also be very funny. But it will be darker. It is a second step in a trilogy, and the second step is always dark as in The Empire Strikes Back or The Wrath of Khan which are the examples you always get. The film takes the story where it has never been before. To me, it surprised me. We are going to places where the saga has never been before, and at the same time we are paying tribute to the franchise. We will take it a step further. There are things that will happen that people are not expecting and they really are shocking.”
It seems that every sequel strives to be the “Empire” of its respective trilogy. Aside from the darker tone, The Empire Strikes Back raised the stakes for characters that people had already grown to love in Star Wars. It’s not clear – and frankly not likely – that audiences have developed a similar attachment to the cast of Jurassic World. While Chris Pratt has undeniable star power, I dare you to tell me what his character’s name is in the movie.
However, really digging into the terror of coming face-to-face with a prehistoric behemoth could open up new avenues for the franchise. At its core, and in the original Michael Crichton penned Jurassic Park books, the concept was always intended as a horror story set on the backdrop of science gone wrong. It will be interesting to see how this sequel comes together.
Jurassic World 2 opens on June 22nd. 2018.
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Source: CBM