Jurassic World Rebirth’s cut book sequence gets shown off for the first time in a new featurette. Directed by Gareth Edwards, the upcoming action adventure movie is the sixth film in theJurassic Parkfranchise since Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed 1993 original. Scarlett Johansson leads theJurassic World Rebirthcastas Zora Bennett, the leader of a dangerous mission into equatorial regions to recover rare dinosaur DNA for a medical breakthrough. The film has been teased as a return to the franchise’s roots, with a script from original movie writer David Koepp.
The officialJurassic Worldaccount on YouTube now shares a new featurette forJurassic World Rebirth, with Edwards, Koepp, and the cast teasing what’s to come. “It hearkens back to the first film,” says Johansson, while Edwards adds that when he first read the script, “it felt like a love letter to Spielberg.” As for the new footage featured in the featurette,a brief look at a raft sequence from the original Michael Crichton novel is included. Check out the featurette and Koepp’s comments about the raft sequence below:
“The sequence with the raft was in the first novel, Jurassic Park. One of the first things Steven and I said was, ‘we gotta get that raft sequence in some place.’”
What This Means For Jurassic World Rebirth
The Raft Sequence Explained
AfterJurassic World Dominion(2022) expanded the franchise’s scope (and earned poor reviews doing it), it’s clear that Edwards, Koepp, and Spielberg wanted to go back to the franchise’s roots withRebirth. In addition to tone, the inclusion of the raft sequence was part of this larger effort. In Crichton’s 1990 novel,the raft sequence in question features Dr. Alan Grant and the two Murphy children boarding the park’s river ride attraction when a Tyrannosaurus rex begins chasing them, starting a stampede, leading Grant to steer the raft over a waterfall.
Grant and the Murphy kids aren’t included as part ofJurassic World Rebirth’s cast of characters, meaning the sequence will be happening with newcomers in the story. As is shown in the footage,there is water mist in the background, which could be a sign of a waterfall(or a sign that one will be added digitally). This suggests that, aside from the characters, other parts of the scene could be pulled straight from Crichton’s novel. How this scene fits into the largerJurassic World Rebirthstory, however, remains to be seen.
Our Take On Jurassic World Rebirth’s New Featurette
The Film Can Course Correct After Dominion
Jurassic World Dominionreviewstook issue with that film’s story and failure to capitalize on the premise of dinosaurs living side-by-side with humans. The premise, in many ways, was too big to explore effectively.Rebirthgoing back to basics with one team on a mission in dino-infested territory – including in the research center for the originalJurassic Park– is a great way to simplify things, andthis could end up paying off both critically and commercially.
Jurassic World Dominionhas only a 29% onRotten Tomatoes, the lowest score in the franchise’s history.
Though big action set pieces have always been a part of theJurassicmovies,the suspense leading up to these set pieces is just as important. WithJurassic World Rebirthattempting to capture the magic of original, it hopefully is able to strike this balance while also introducing compelling new characters.
