In 2015, the Jurassic Park franchise came back in a big way. Colin Trevorrow's Jurassic World was not only the first film from the series to come out in 14 years, but it also successfully set an exciting path for the future. Now that director J.A. Bayona's sequel is in development, however, it made us wonder: will the new movie be more Jurassic World 2 or Jurassic Park 5? The answer exists somewhere in the middle.
Earlier today, I had the great pleasure of sitting down one-on-one with J.A. Bayona in promotion of his upcoming movie A Monster Calls, and it was towards the end of our chat that we talked a bit about his next project. I posed the aforementioned question to the filmmaker, and he not only enjoyed the challenge of the query, but explained why his installment in the dinosaur franchise will be both Jurassic World 2 and Jurassic Park 5. Said Bayona,
That's a good question! I think somehow it's both. It's a very good question, and what we're doing is a sequel to Jurassic World, but it's definitely the fifth chapter of a longer saga. It's very interesting. It's always tricky, but you need to find a balance in what people expect to find, and the new stuff you're bringing to the story. And I think the story is looking for a connection between Jurassic World and Jurassic Park -- more than what Jurassic World did.
While he sadly didn't elaborate, it's interesting to contemplate what exactly the last part could mean. Jurassic World certainly did pay tribute back to the Steven Spielberg film that started it all -- bringing back iconic locations and refreshing certain moments -- but there are plenty of avenues for J.A. Bayona's sequel to actually tie things back to the original. Our fingers are tightly crossed that part of that will be bringing back some classic characters to join Chris Pratt's Owen and Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire.
As for specifically what we can expect from the plot, I also asked J.A. Bayona about some plot information I got from Colin Trevorrow last year. When I sat down with Trevorrow at the Jurassic World Los Angeles press day, he mentioned that the scene with BD Wong's Dr. Henry Wu getting in a helicopter at the end of the film would prove to be very significant, and that a sequel could explore the idea of "dinosaur proliferation." I asked Bayona about Trevorrow's comments, and if that was still the plan, and he responded in the affirmative:
Sure. I think what this film does is it's the second chapter of the story that started in Jurassic World, and it's open to a third chapter too. It's very interesting in the way that we're approaching the story, and where we are leading the story. We're leading the story to a place that the audience is not expecting, and that's always exciting when you do a sequel.
With production likely to start up in early 2017, more news about Jurassic World 2/Jurassic Park 5 is surely around the corner (I asked Bayona if the film has an official title yet, and while he said yes, he couldn't tell me what it is). For now, stay tuned for more updates here on Cinema Blend, and get ready for Bayona's A Monster Calls, which will be in limited release starting December 23rd.
