While the future of theatrical movies is still a big question mark, the production of those movies is still moving forward, even if the pace is a bit slower than it once was. Jurassic World: Dominion is a movie that saw more hurdles than many other films as it tried to complete principal photography during a pandemic, and while it certainly looked dicey there for a while, shooting has now completed on the next big dinosaur adventure.
The big thing that everybody is waiting for in the new Jurassic World is the return of the core cast from the original Jurassic Park and Sam Neill is clearly just as excited to be returning. He celebrated the end of production by admitting that there were times when it looked like finishing the movie would be tough, but the movie got there, and now he can celebrate its end. Neill said on Twitter...
There were days we thought we might not make it. But we have...we pulled off what seemed well nigh impossible . Great crew. Lovely cast . Top director. Phew- and CELEBRATIONS.
Jurassic World: Dominion was only one of many movies that were forced to shutdown production after getting underway when it became clear that the global pandemic was becoming just that. The movie sat in limbo for some time. Although, Colin Trevorrow revealed that the movie didn't entirely stop in its tracks. Much of the filming that had been done needed to have dinosaurs digitally created, and some some of the work that would otherwise not have begun until now, the post-production process, actually got underway early.
Filming was then able to resume, under stricter health and safety measures. And that seemed to be going well, until it wasn't. There was a positive COVID-19 test on the set, that forced an additional shutdown of production. However,, it appears that case was caught early and dealt with quickly, as that production shutdown was minimal, and everybody got back to work again. And now, finally, filming is done.
Of course, on films of the size of Jurassic World: Dominion, filming is rarely actually done at this point. Most of the time reshoots are necessary, and that means filming will need to happen again in a few months. Although, I have to wonder if there was any attempt to try to limit or eliminate reshoots simply to avoid having to bring a large number of cast and crew together again. It might not be feasible, but I can imagine that reshoots will be kept to the absolute minimum.
Jurassic World: Dominion, like so many other films, has seen a delay in release not simply because of its own production delay but as part of the continually falling dominos that are the release delays of every other movie on the schedule that comes before it. The film is now set to open in June of 2022, which, if nothing else, gives the movie plenty of time to handle post-production and reshoots.
