Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a 2018 science fiction action film directed by J. A. Bayona and written by Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow.[8] The sequel to Jurassic World (2015), it is the second installment in the Jurassic World trilogy and the fifth installment overall in the Jurassic Park film series. Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, BD Wong, and Jeff Goldblum reprise their roles from previous films in the series, with Toby Jones, Ted Levine, and Rafe Spall joining the cast. The story follows Owen Grady and Claire Dearing as they return to the fictional Central American island of Isla Nublar to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from an impending volcanic eruption, only to discover a mercenary team's ulterior motives to bring them to the US mainland.
"Fallen Kingdom" redirects here. For the Minecraft parody song, see CaptainSparklez § Minecraft songs.Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
- Frank Marshall
- Patrick Crowley
- Belén Atienza
- May 21, 2018 (WiZink Center)
- June 22, 2018 (United States)
128 minutes[3]
English
$432 million[6]
$1.31 billion[7]
Filming took place from February to July 2017 in the United Kingdom and in Hawaii. Fallen Kingdom premiered in the WiZink Center in Madrid on May 21, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 22, by Universal Pictures. On a budget of $432 million, Fallen Kingdom is the second most expensive film ever made. The film grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide, making it the third Jurassic film to pass the billion-dollar mark, and was the third-highest-grossing film of 2018 and the 12th-highest-grossing film of all time. It received mixed reviews from critics, who generally praised the visuals, cinematography, music and darker tone, while others criticized the screenplay and felt the series had run its course.[9] A sequel titled Jurassic World Dominion was released in 2022.
Plot
Shortly after the escape of the Indominus rex in 2015,[b] a small mercenary team arrives on the abandoned Isla Nublar to collect DNA from its remains in the lagoon. After they collect a bone sample, the Mosasaurus devours their submersible. The Tyrannosaurus attacks their helicopter, but they manage to escape with the sample, also allowing the Mosasaurus to escape into the open ocean.
Three years later, a United States Senate committee debates whether Isla Nublar's dinosaurs should be saved from an impending volcanic eruption. Mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm testifies that the dinosaurs should perish naturally to correct the wrongful cloning done by John Hammond. Meanwhile, Jurassic World's former operations manager, Claire Dearing, has established the Dinosaur Protection Group to save the animals. After the Senate rules against rescuing the animals, Hammond's former partner, Sir Benjamin Lockwood, summons Claire to his Northern California estate. Lockwood and his aide, Eli Mills, reveal a plan to relocate the dinosaurs to a new island sanctuary. Claire is needed to reactivate the park's tracking system to locate the animals, particularly Blue, the last surviving Velociraptor. Claire recruits Owen Grady, former Velociraptor trainer, to help capture her.
On Isla Nublar, Claire and former park technician Franklin Webb reactivate the online tracking system. Owen, paleo-veterinarian Zia Rodriguez, and a mercenary team led by Ken Wheatley, track and find Blue. The encounter escalates, resulting in Blue being shot and Wheatley tranquilizing Owen. Wheatley then abandons Owen, Claire, and Franklin on the island while forcibly taking Zia hostage to treat Blue. The ship, loaded with captured dinosaurs, departs as the remaining dinosaurs are left behind to die in the eruption. Claire, Franklin, and Owen sneak aboard the ship and help Zia transfuse Blue with Tyrannosaurus blood to save her life.
Rather than being relocated to a new island, the captured dinosaurs are transported to the Lockwood estate, where Lockwood's orphaned granddaughter, Maisie, overhears Mills and auctioneer Mr. Eversoll secretly planning to sell the dinosaurs on the black market. They will also preview the Indoraptor, a weaponized, transgenic dinosaur created by geneticist Dr. Henry Wu using Indominus rex and Velociraptor DNA. Wu needs Blue's DNA to create an improved Indoraptor that is obedient to commands, unaware that Blue's blood is no longer pure. After Maisie informs Lockwood about the auction, he confronts Mills, who murders him. Maisie is later revealed to have been cloned from Lockwood's deceased daughter and the reason why John Hammond ended their association.
The auctioned dinosaurs are being immediately shipped out. Franklin evades capture and frees Zia, but Owen and Claire have been apprehended. Owen incites a Stygimoloch into breaking open their cell. The two encounter Maisie, and they learn the Indoraptor is being sold despite Wu's protests that he is a prototype. Owen disrupts the auction by luring the Stygimoloch into the room. In the ensuing chaos, Wheatley tranquilizes the Indoraptor to extract a tooth as a trophy, but the hybrid, having merely feigned unconsciousness, kills Wheatley, along with Eversoll and others as he escapes. He chases Owen, Claire, and Maisie throughout the mansion until Blue, released by Zia, confronts and fights him. After a standoff atop a high glass roof, both animals crash through it, with the Indoraptor being impaled on the brow horns of a ceratopsian skull on display, killing him and leaving the smaller Blue unharmed.
When a hydrogen cyanide gas leak threatens the caged dinosaurs, Claire attempts to free them, only for Owen to convince her not to do so. Maisie, unwilling to let the remaining dinosaurs die, opens the final gate, allowing them to go out into the open. As Mills attempts to escape with the Indominus rex bone, the Tyrannosaurus devours him and tramples the bone. Owen, Claire, Maisie, Zia, and Franklin escape, while Blue and the other released dinosaurs flee the estate grounds. In a new U.S. Senate hearing, Dr. Malcolm declares the beginning of a neo-Jurassic Age, where humans and dinosaurs must coexist. The closing scenes depict the freed dinosaurs roaming the wilderness and outer urban areas.
Production
Development
During early conversations about the 2015 film Jurassic World, executive producer Steven Spielberg told director Colin Trevorrow that he was interested in having several more films made.[29] Trevorrow said in 2014 that they wanted to create something "less arbitrary and episodic" that could possibly "arc into a series that would feel like a complete story".[30] Trevorrow said he would direct the sequel if asked.[30] He later told Spielberg he would only focus on directing one film in the Jurassic Park series,[29] and would be involved in the sequel "in some way, but not as director". Trevorrow felt that different directors could bring different qualities to future films.[31] Trevorrow said in June 2015 that he was interested in seeing a Jurassic Park film made by one of several unnamed Spanish horror film directors.[32] Jurassic World producer Frank Marshall met with Trevorrow and Universal Pictures later that month to discuss a sequel.[33]
Trevorrow suggested that the sequel would not involve a dinosaur theme park, as he felt future films could instead explore the idea of dinosaurs and humans co-existing.[29][34] He said the film could involve dinosaurs going open source, resulting in multiple entities around the world being able to create their own dinosaurs for various uses.[35][36]
Pre-production
Universal announced a sequel in July 2015, referred to as Jurassic World 2, scheduled for a June 22, 2018 release date in the US.[12] Trevorrow was announced to write the script with his writing partner Derek Connolly, as they had for Jurassic World. It was also announced that the film would be produced by Marshall, and that Spielberg and Trevorrow would act as executive producers, while Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard would reprise their roles from the previous film.[12] Pratt and Howard were paid $8 and $10 million for their involvement, respectively.[37] Unlike its predecessors, Trevorrow said the sequel would not involve "a bunch of dinosaurs chasing people on an island", an idea that he found repetitive.[36] Trevorrow spoke of the film's possible open-source storyline: "It's almost like InGen is Mac, but what if PC gets their hands on it? What if there are 15 different entities around the world who can make a dinosaur?"[36]
By October 2015, horror director J. A. Bayona was being considered to direct the film.[38] However, he chose instead to proceed with the World War Z sequel, a project for which he had already signed on.[38] He dropped out of that project three months later due to other commitments,[39] and was hired as Jurassic World 2 director in April 2016, with Belén Atienza and Patrick Crowley joining Marshall as producers.[40] Spielberg, Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy had been impressed by Bayona's 2012 film, The Impossible, and initially considered having him direct Jurassic World, which he declined as he felt there was not enough time for production.[41][42] Trevorrow wanted Bayona to direct the sequel after seeing his 2007 horror film, The Orphanage.[43][44]
Before he was hired, Bayona had met with Trevorrow and became enthused with the project after being shown the script's second half, which would play out like a haunted house film.[45] After Bayona was hired, Trevorrow said of the film: "We're moving it into new territory. J. A. Bayona is an incredible director and I know he'll push the boundaries of what a 'Jurassic' movie is. I think it's important that we take risks. A franchise must evolve or perish".[46] Trevorrow and Bayona worked closely throughout the film's production.[2] The film, under the working title of Ancient Futures,[47] was in full pre-production as of July 2016, with storyboards being designed.[48] Andy Nicholson was hired as the film's production designer.[2] He spent four weeks with Bayona in Barcelona, discussing reference pictures and background details, as well as Bayona's ideas for the Lockwood mansion.[2]
For the film's second half where dinosaurs are transported by boat to the mainland, Ecuador and Peru had both been scouted as possible filming locations and settings. Marshall thought that Cabo San Lucas would be ideal, but these locations ultimately did not work for the film's story. Although the film would be shot partly in England, Spielberg felt the country was too far from the fictional Isla Nublar to be used as the in-film setting for the second half. He and the producers did not want the film to spend too much time on a boat. Crowley stated: "Rather than making it a movie about traveling on a boat, which is not very exciting, you needed to get to the place".[49]
In September 2016, Bayona confirmed the film would be the second chapter in a planned Jurassic World trilogy.[50] Later that year, Jurassic World composer Michael Giacchino was confirmed to return,[51] while Óscar Faura was announced as the film's cinematographer.[52]
Writing
Although Spielberg was heavily involved in the development of ideas for Jurassic World, he had Trevorrow and Connolly devise their own ideas for the sequel. He retained final approval on the project.[53] In June 2015, about two weeks after the theatrical release of Jurassic World, Trevorrow embarked on a road trip from Los Angeles to his home state of Vermont.[2] Connolly agreed to accompany him so they could discuss a basic set of ideas Trevorrow had for the film.[2] During their eight-day trip,[54] they began work on the script and devised the basic story.[55][56] Trevorrow said it was inspired by a quote from Dr. Alan Grant in the first film: "Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution, have suddenly been thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea of what to expect?"[57] Trevorrow said the story was heavily influenced by the idea that "a mistake made a long time ago just can't be undone".[58] He also said the film deals with themes of political megalomania, greed, and "making decisions with lack of care for how it affects people's lives".[59]
The film is also based on concepts from Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park (1990) and its sequel The Lost World (1995), and includes dialogue from the first novel.[58] Isla Nublar's volcano is in the first novel, and the writers chose to incorporate it into the film's plot.[60] Trevorrow compared the destruction of Isla Nublar to "the burning down of a church or a temple. I honestly think it's like killing off a character in a way, and if you're going to do that, as long as you approach it with the proper respect and acknowledgement that you understand how indelible and permanent what you're doing is, then hopefully people will have an emotional response but they won't hate you for it".[59] The idea to include a "silent partner" for John Hammond was also inspired by the Jurassic Park novel.[61] Although the character of Benjamin Lockwood was not featured in the novel, the book depicts the early years leading up to the cloning of dinosaurs.[61] This made Trevorrow realize there would have been many people involved in such a project, convincing him that someone like Lockwood would be among those people.[61]
In his initial film treatment, Trevorrow had included story elements that Marshall and Crowley considered excessive for a single film. The producers felt it was important to include details about Owen and Claire's lives after the events of Jurassic World.[49] Although the original ending was the same as the final film, Trevorrow had wanted to include more details about the integration of dinosaurs into the world.[62] He chose to remove them to keep the story focused.[62] The script's structure, Trevorrow said, was inspired by Spielberg's 2015 film Bridge of Spies, in which two seemingly unrelated stories "collide in the middle, and move on together".[53] Trevorrow was also inspired by the 1975 film Three Days of the Condor: "It's one of those places where you think you know what the score is, and then everything changes, and then suddenly you don't know who to trust".[53] The film includes ideas previously featured in a rejected 2004 draft for Jurassic Park IV (later Jurassic World), presented in the same structure: a return to Isla Nublar followed by a second half set in a large Gothic building on the mainland.[63] The idea of selling weaponized dinosaurs was also in the rejected draft, which Trevorrow had read while writing the first Jurassic World film.[63][64] The idea of weaponized dinosaurs came from Spielberg.[54][65] Having directed Jurassic World, Trevorrow was familiar with how animatronics worked and wrote scenes for the sequel that would allow for their use.[66] For example, animatronics are incapable of certain actions such as running.[66]
Regarding the idea of human cloning, Trevorrow said that "we're so much closer to cloning humans than we are to cloning dinosaurs. It felt like far less of a leap to me than dinosaurs do. [...] To have a character who has such deep love and has felt such loss and the inability to go on, I think is something we all feel. So the idea that you might be able to bring someone back in that way is emotionally grounded in a very universal idea".[67] Trevorrow also said he was interested in "the larger impact" of genetic power, including its emotional impact and its potential human impact.[61] He added, "we knew that we didn't want to continue to make movies about the dangers of messing with science. We want to tell a story about where we are now, which is that we have messed with science, we have fundamentally altered our world and now we're dealing with the consequences".[61] Trevorrow was nervous about how audiences would react to the story's human cloning aspect, an idea supported by Spielberg, who was excited about the questions that such an idea could raise in the film's sequel.[59] Because of criticism of the death of Zara in the previous film, Trevorrow said for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: "We made sure that every death was earned. Everybody deserves their death in this movie, a lesson learned. In 2018 everyone earns it. Horrible people".[59]
One of Trevorrow's ideas was to include Jeff Goldblum's character of Ian Malcolm, who appeared in the franchise's earlier films.[68] Trevorrow and Goldblum discussed dialogue ideas for Malcolm, and Trevorrow said he used a lot of dialogue from Crichton's Jurassic Park novel for the character.[2][69] Marshall said that Trevorrow wrote Malcolm as "the 'Uh oh, danger, I told you so' kind of character".[42] Trevorrow said of Malcolm: "I saw him as kind of Al Gore. He's got a beard now, and he's like, 'I told all of you this was going to be a disaster, and sure enough it is'".[70]
The character of Lowery, a park control-room employee from the previous Jurassic World film, was considered for a return in Fallen Kingdom.[71] Trevorrow ultimately replaced Lowery with the equivalent character Franklin Webb.[71] According to Trevorrow, Lowery did not have quite the same spirit as Franklin: "We did like the idea of [Zia and Franklin] being pretty idealistic young people who are activists who really believe in the cause that Claire believes in. I wasn't really able to shoehorn [Lowery] into that, he's kind of a cynical guy".[71] Jake Johnson met with Connolly to discuss his character's appearance in Fallen Kingdom.[72] Johnson later said that Lowery "is a different guy because of what he went through in the first movie. Like he's got a huge ponytail now. I pitched that he's got sleeve tattoos. The trauma of seeing a dinosaur attack really messed him up. I thought we could have some fun".[72] In October 2016, Johnson said he and his character would not be in the film.[73][74]
Marketing
A six-second clip from the film was released on November 22, 2017.[163][164] The first trailer was teased for release on November 30, but was later confirmed to be incorrect.[165] Several teaser trailers and a behind-the-scenes featurette of the film were released in early December,[166][167][168][169] before the release of a full-length trailer on December 7.[23][166]
That month,[170] Universal launched a website for the Dinosaur Protection Group. It included miscellaneous information about the group and its effort to save the island's dinosaurs,[15] as well as a video featuring Howard, Pineda and Smith as their characters.[171] The website also explained that Isla Sorna, the second island of dinosaurs featured in earlier films, is no longer inhabited.[172] The website was created by Chaos Theorem, a creative digital storytelling company created by Jack Anthony Ewins and Timothy Glover, who worked previously on the Masrani Global website for Jurassic World along with their team Manuel Bejarano, Samuel Phillips, Ross Lane & Jaroslav Kosmina.[173] Trevorrow and Chaos Theorem also created a website and campaign for "Extinction Now!" (the antithesis to the Dinosaur Protection Group), which was launched shortly before the film's release.[174][175] The campaign included a found-footage clip of a Tyrannosaurus loose in San Diego, a reference to The Lost World: Jurassic Park.[175][176]
A second trailer aired during Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018.[177][178] A 30-second teaser trailer was later released on April 13, followed by the full trailer on April 18.[179][180] Several of the trailers and commercials for the film included scenes from the ending that depict the Tyrannosaurus rex and the Mosasaurus now loose in the world. This frustrated Trevorrow, who preferred not to show such scenes before the film's release.[61][181]
Universal spent $145 million on prints and advertisements promoting the film and had the benefit of a global marketing campaign by its partners valued at an additional $185 million, more than double the value of the previous film's partner program.[182][183] The campaign included nine partners—Dairy Queen, Doritos, Dr Pepper, Ferrero SpA, Jeep, Juicy Fruit, Kellogg's, M&M's, and Skittles—who aired television commercials and sold products to promote the film.[183] The global marketing campaign consisted of 1.3 billion promotional items, including 100 million boxes of Kellogg's products and 15 million packages of Kinder Joy candy by Ferrero.[183] Dairy Queen, a returning partner from the previous film, sold "Jurassic Chomp" ice cream desserts in collectable cups, while Doritos and Dr Pepper marketed versions of their products that featured images of the film's dinosaurs.[183][184] For Super Bowl LII, Trevorrow directed a Jeep commercial starring Goldblum featuring a T. rex. Within 24 hours of its release, the commercial received 39.7 million online views, more than any film trailer watched online following its Super Bowl television debut.[183] Universal also teamed up with Amazon for a marketing stunt where a dinosaur-sized box was driven around Los Angeles on a truck to promote the film.[185][186]
Licensing partners Mattel, Lego, and Funko created toys based on the film.[187][188][189][190] Mattel produced a variety of toys,[191] including dinosaurs and action figures,[192][193] as well as Barbie dolls featuring the likeness of Pratt and Howard as their characters.[188] Mattel released a mobile app titled Jurassic World Facts as a tie-in to its dinosaur toys, which included symbols that could be scanned to collect facts about each creature.[194] Lego released a number of Lego sets and characters based on the film.[195] A video game, Jurassic World Evolution, was released simultaneously with the film.[196] A two-part virtual reality miniseries titled Jurassic World: Blue, created by Felix & Paul Studios and Industrial Light and Magic, was released for Oculus VR headsets as a film tie-in, featuring Blue on Isla Nublar at the time of the volcanic eruption.[197][198][199][200]
Release
Theatrical
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom had its premiere at the WiZink Center in Madrid, Spain, on May 21, 2018.[201][202] The film's international theatrical release began in Singapore and Malaysia on June 7,[203][204] followed by the United Kingdom, India, Italy, South Korea and Angola on June 8.[205] It was released in the United States on June 22, 2018.[12][79]
Home media
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was released digitally on September 4, 2018, and on Blu-ray, DVD, Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray on September 18.[206]
Reception
Box office
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom grossed $417.7 million in the United States and Canada and $892.7 million in other territories for a total worldwide gross of $1.310 billion,[7] against a production budget of $431.6 million.[6] The film crossed the $1 billion mark on July 5, 2018, becoming the 35th film of all time to reach this milestone, and the seventh film for Universal. It also made Universal the second studio (after Disney) to have at least two films in three different franchises make $1 billion worldwide, alongside Fast & Furious and Despicable Me.[207] Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $222.8 million when factoring together all expenses and revenues, making it the eighth most profitable release of 2018.[182] Using the updated budget by Forbes, the film made a net profit of $218.4 million.[6]