By now you’ve probably seen the above teaser rumored to be a pitch reel for Jurassic World. (If you haven’t, I don’t understand what you use the internet for.) The could-be clip that shows a pterodactyl snatching up a surfer from his board to share with a hovering hunting partner made the rounds this month, inciting many to wonder if this was what we should suspect for the fourth Jurassic Park movie. Jurassic World producer Frank Marshall took to Twitter to debunk speculation that this scene would appear in the soon to shoot feature.
Official channels later insisted it was simply a proof of concept for a Jurassic Park video game that never took off. Well, it turns out that is part of the story, but not all of it. Badass Digest has unearthed that the video above was a teaser made to pitch a video game and movie in a multi-faceted multimedia attempt to relaunch the franchise. Taking a cue from Jurassic Park: The Lost World, the clip was made to tease out what kind of carnage could be wrought by the dinosaurs of Isla Nublar if they reached the shores of California. Notably, a plotline very different from the Isla Nublar revisited plot rumored back in June.
The video is actually from 2011, and was meant to pitch the proof of concept to Marshall as well as the series other major producers, Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy. This was to be the visual punch to a broader pitch that was spearheaded by Iain McCraig, a storied storyboard artist who has worked on Hook, The Avengers and Star Wars: Episodes I, II, & III. However, as McCraig is not listed among the cast of Jurassic World, it’s possible little but the title from this teaser stuck. Maybe it didn’t have enough bite for Spielberg’s liking? Or maybe the man whose credited with the design for Darth Maul is just too busy returning to Star Wars saga, as he’s announced to be on board for Episode VII. With Universal Pictures keeping mum on Jurassic World’s plot, we’re left to wonder on this point for now.
What we do know is that Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ scribes Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver penned the first draft. Then director Colin Trevorrow, who drew notice with the bittersweet time-travel rom-com Safety Not Guaranteed, was signed, and he and producer Pat Crowley have been revising the screenplay. As to casting, Bryce Dallas Howard, David Oyelowo and Garrett Hedlund have been rumored, as has the return of Sam Neill. Lastly, Jurassic World will open on June 12th, 2015. So, we have a ways to wait until all its secrets are revealed.
