Jurassic World Rebirth

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Jurassic World Rebirth begins in 2008 on Île Saint-Hubert, a research island in the Atlantic Ocean. There, the company InGen keeps mutated dinosaurs that its own head considers disturbing. One of them, a six-limbed Tyrannosaurus called Distortus rex, escapes from containment. Every member of the staff abandons the island. The 2025 film that opens this way was directed by Gareth Edwards and written by David Koepp. It is the fourth Jurassic World film and the seventh installment overall in the Jurassic Park series. Why would a story that looked finished go back to the dinosaurs once more? Who agreed to build it, and how fast did they have to work? And did audiences and critics follow the series back to the island?

  17726790

• 2. A Heist for a Heart Drug

  ›

  In 2025, most of Earth's climate has turned hostile to the de-extinct animals that InGen and other companies created. The survivors live in equatorial regions with weather resembling the Mesozoic era, and exclusion zones have been set up around them. Martin Krebs, an executive at the pharmaceutical company ParkerGenix, hires Zora Bennett, a former covert operative. She is to work with the paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis on a classified mission. The goal is to collect biomaterial from three huge prehistoric animals, because the samples are crucial to a new cardiovascular treatment. In Suriname, Zora recruits her longtime associate Duncan Kincaid to lead the expedition. The crew also includes the maritime pilot LeClerc, the mercenary Nina and the security expert Bobby Atwater.

  The three targets cover sea, land and sky. They are the Mosasaurus, the Titanosaurus and the Quetzalcoatlus. The team travels illegally to the island to find them. Nearby, Reuben Delgado is sailing with his daughters Teresa and Isabella and Teresa's boyfriend, Xavier Dobbs. A Mosasaurus overturns their sailboat, and Reuben sends a distress call. Martin wants the team to stay on task, but the expedition rescues the family anyway. A pack of Spinosaurus then joins the Mosasaurus in attacking the ship, and Bobby is killed. Martin stops Teresa from radioing for help and does nothing when she falls overboard. Xavier, Reuben and Isabella jump in after her, which separates the family from the crew. The ship runs aground, and a Spinosaurus kills Nina.

  At this point Zora reveals that a rescue helicopter will circle the island in 24 hours if no radio message comes. The survivors cross the island by different routes toward the abandoned InGen complex. There Martin takes the samples at gunpoint, and the Distortus rex devours him. The survivors escape in a boat, and Zora and Henry decide to distribute the biomaterial as an open source resource, so that people everywhere can have access to it.

  177227638

• 3. Spielberg's Idea

  ›

  Shortly after Jurassic World Dominion reached theaters in 2022, the executive producer Steven Spielberg approached David Koepp. Spielberg had an early story idea of his own, and it features heavily in the finished film. Koepp had co-written Jurassic Park in 1993 with Michael Crichton, the author of the novels. He then wrote The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997 by himself. Koepp had initially turned down the chance to write another, believing he had nothing left to add. He had still done uncredited script work on Dominion. What changed his mind was learning how deeply Spielberg would be involved. The two spent six months developing the screenplay, hoping to restore the tone of the original trilogy, and especially its first film. Colin Trevorrow, who spent nine years on the Jurassic World trilogy as director and co-writer, had no involvement.

  Koepp explained the freedom of the new approach in plain terms. He said the two of them decided to "have all-new characters in an all-new location." The two preceding films had moved the animals out among people around the world. Koepp said of that direction, "I don't know where else to go with that." He preferred sending humans back into a dinosaur environment. In his words, "I find limitations freeing."

  The pair then needed a reason for anyone to visit a secret research island. Koepp said his research showed that certain large dinosaurs had extraordinarily long lifespans, thanks to remarkably low incidences of heart disease. He reasoned that a drug could be synthesized from their DNA, since heart disease is the greatest killer of humans. Ben Lamm, co-founder of Colossal Biosciences, called the premise realistic. He said, "There's hidden cures and hidden data in all these species that we're losing." The mutants came from the hybrid dinosaurs of earlier Jurassic World films. Koepp and Spielberg decided the hybrids "can't all have gone well" because genetic experimentation does not always work out.

  Before writing, Koepp rewatched the six earlier films. He also reread Crichton's novels for the first time in nearly 30 years. The result borrowed a raft escape from a Tyrannosaurus that had been cut from the first novel's film adaptation. A monologue for Henry Loomis came from the book as well. It also carried an unused line that Koepp had written for Ian Malcolm in an early draft of Jurassic Park. His private rules were that the science be accurate, that no earlier events be retconned and that the dialogue be funny. He also wanted the non-mutant dinosaurs to act as animals, driven by hunger or the defense of territory. Koepp turned in his draft three months after starting in earnest in September 2023, and the producers Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley only learned of the project then.

  1922242531

• 4. Director and Cast

  ›

  In late January 2024, the news broke that Universal Pictures had a new Jurassic World film in development. Koepp had already written several drafts, and the producers had already completed dinosaur designs. They wanted more creative control than they had on Dominion, which earned mostly negative reviews. The directing job was reportedly described as "more shooter than auteur." David Leitch, a former second unit director on Jurassic World, was considered in early February 2024, but talks collapsed within days. Edgar Wright declined in favor of The Running Man, his own dream project. Gareth Edwards was announced later that month. His visual style and experience with computer-generated imagery fit the series, and Spielberg had enjoyed his film Godzilla (2014).

  Edwards had just finished The Creator (2023) and planned a break from studio films. He called Jurassic World "the only movie that would make me drop everything like a stone and dive right in." He hoped Koepp's script would give him a reason to say no, but it won him over instead. He then had less than a year and a half to finish a film that would normally take two and a half years. His request to delay the release was rejected immediately. He changed the Quetzalcoatlus nest from a cliff to an abandoned ancient temple, and he moved a gas station mini mart sequence to a new location. About the schedule he said, "If you have too much time, you procrastinate, you try things that don't work."

  Rebirth is the first film in the series with no returning actors. Casting was underway by March 2024 and ran for three months. Jennifer Lawrence was among those considered for Zora, and she turned the role down. Scarlett Johansson, a fan of the franchise for more than a decade, had already pitched herself to Spielberg. Edwards cast her immediately on learning of her interest. Universal executives suggested Jonathan Bailey after his performance in the 2024 film Wicked. Edwards chose Manuel Garcia-Rulfo after seeing The Lincoln Lawyer, and Rupert Friend after seeing an episode of Homeland. Glen Powell was reportedly in talks to play Henry Loomis but declined, saying someone better would "breathe more life into this."

  3437474849

• 5. Shooting on Film

  ›

  John Mathieson, the cinematographer, shot Jurassic World Rebirth on 35mm film, a first for Edwards. The choice aimed to recall the look of the original Jurassic Park. The crew used Panaflex Millennium XL2 cameras with vintage anamorphic lenses from Panavision, and framed scenes in 2.40:1. Night scenes in the jungle were mostly shot day-for-night, which kept lighting simple in remote locations. The budget was $180-225 million.

  Costa Rica was strongly considered to stand in for Île Saint-Hubert, alongside the Dominican Republic, Mauritius and Panama. Edwards proposed Thailand, where he had filmed The Creator, and Spielberg and the producers approved at once. Principal photography began there on the 13th of June 2024 under the working title Saga. Locations included Khao Phanom Bencha National Park in Krabi, Ko Kradan in Trang and Ao Phang Nga National Park. The Titanosaurus sequence was filmed in a field in Thab Prik. A drought stopped the production designer James Clyne's team from growing tall grass, so they hired a horticulturist from England to install irrigation. Venomous water snakes and insects made the work harder. Film also had to be shipped to England for processing. The executive producer Denis Stewart recalled "five days of wondering if that film was going to get there okay," yet no problem arose.

  In July 2024, filming moved to Malta Film Studios in Kalkara for the Mosasaurus boat attacks. The special effects supervisor Neil Corbould built hydraulic gimbals to rock boats inside water tanks, and most tank scenes were shot dry with water added later by CGI. Johansson described being on a rig 30 feet in the air, with cannons spraying water at her. "It was brutal," she said.

  In August 2024, the production reached Sky Studios Elstree near London. The InGen laboratory and its tunnels filled three sound stages, and it was the most expensive set built for the film. A 70 ft cliff wall was built there for the rappel to the temple, and footage of Jog Falls in India supplied the waterfall. The T. rex river chase began at a flooded quarry in Thailand and finished at Lee Valley White Water Centre in Hertfordshire.

  Duncan's fate carried a behind-the-scenes argument. He was written to die, but once Mahershala Ali was cast, Universal believed that a star of his stature should survive. Edwards and Ali pushed to keep the death, yet Universal asked for an extra scene in Thailand showing he lived. Edwards later put that footage in the final film. Koepp texted with Edwards throughout and joined him on set in London for the last weeks. Filming wrapped on the 27th of September 2024, and pick-up shots followed in New York City three weeks later.

  5956627178

• 6. Monsters Built to Order

  ›

  Industrial Light & Magic returned to create the dinosaurs on screen, but it had only six weeks to finalize their designs. The short schedule left little time for animatronics, a departure from the two previous films. John Nolan built practical heads, limbs and claws, mainly as lighting and eyeline references for the actors. These were then replaced by CGI, because Edwards wanted every creature to look consistent. Paleontologist Stephen L. Brusatte returned as dinosaur consultant. Edwards left out feathered dinosaurs. According to ILM's visual effects supervisor David Vickery, they "looked like big chickens and weren't all that scary."

  The Distortus rex drew on the xenomorphs of the Alien films and the rancors of Star Wars. Vickery said it looks as if another animal were wrapped around a T. rex. Edwards wanted viewers to pity the creature as well as fear it, because its deformities cause it pain. At his suggestion it has gorilla-like arms and movements. The flying Mutadons combine a pterosaur and a Velociraptor, and Koepp took inspiration from a bat on his porch. ILM tried designs with multiple heads and varied limbs before settling on one around the end of 2024, after nine months.

  The ordinary Tyrannosaurus was redesigned to look like a different individual from earlier films. Its heavier, more bull-like build owes something to the 1969 film The Valley of Gwangi. The Spinosaurus came back from Jurassic Park III and was reworked to match newer research that found it mostly semiaquatic. It gained stronger hind limbs, a broad tail and webbed feet. ILM studied crocodiles and grizzly bears to shape how it behaves. The Mosasaurus changes size more than any other creature, to stress its scale. For the Titanosaurus mating scene, artists studied nature videos of giraffes and swans. An elephant also walked through the Thai grass field as a reference.

  Aquilops, the small dinosaur that Isabella adopts, was played on set by three animatronics, each 18 inches long. A team of puppeteers operated them remotely, and the main one had motors for breathing, blinking and tail wagging. Their 3D-printed parts kept them lighter than typical animatronics. Edwards saw a metaphor in the story. The film notes that public interest in dinosaurs has faded, and he compared that to the decline of movie theaters. He called the mutant storyline a version of the filmmakers' own question: "how do you get people excited about this stuff again?"

  4289919495

• 7. Cuts, Score and Campaign

  ›

  By the end of 2024, Edwards had a first cut one minute under two hours, not counting credits. Reaching that mark meant removing five minutes, which he restored when Universal executives asked. Three other scenes are absent from the theatrical cut, including extra material for the gas station sequence. Edwards said it felt "a little bit more like being hunted," but it slowed the fast-paced third act. He called Spielberg's best advice the idea of trimming scenes. Spielberg compared a film to a meal that should leave viewers slightly hungry. Edwards also briefly considered a T. rex arriving to fight the Distortus rex, but colleagues rejected it as unoriginal. Spielberg and Koepp asked him to remove the Easter eggs tied to the original Jurassic Park, although he kept most of them. The animated Mr. DNA was cut from an exposition scene.

  In March 2025, Edwards was working seven days a week with ILM and the editor Jabez Olssen. The film holds 1,515 visual effects shots, the most of any Jurassic film. ILM completed over 1,000 of them, and vendors including Important Looking Pirates and Midas did the rest. The film was finished in May 2025.

  Alexandre Desplat composed the score, reuniting with Edwards after Godzilla and replacing Michael Giacchino, who had scored the earlier Jurassic World films. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London with a 105-piece orchestra and a 60-piece choir. The score weaves in themes by John Williams, who had composed the first two Jurassic Park scores. Bailey played the clarinet solo himself.

  The title and two first-look photos appeared on the 29th of August 2024. The first trailer followed on the 5th of February 2025, and a 60-second spot aired at Super Bowl LIX four days later. A second trailer arrived on the 20th of May 2025. Marketing presented the film as a homage to the first Jurassic Park. Mattel and Lego made toy lines, and the film also had partners such as 7-Eleven and Funko. Universal wanted Johansson on Instagram, but she declined, believing the film would succeed anyway. The film premiered on the 17th of June 2025 at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London.

  96981009981

• 8. Verdicts and Numbers

  ›

  The five-day Fourth of July opening weekend of 2025 delivered $147.8 million in the United States and Canada. That included $92 million for the three days, and the film topped the box office. Its opening day alone earned $30.5 million, and worldwide it made $322.6 million in that stretch. The second weekend brought $40.3 million, a 56.2% decline, behind the newcomer Superman. The final total was $339.6 million in the United States and Canada and $529.5 million elsewhere. That made $869.1 million worldwide and the sixth-highest gross of 2025. China contributed $41 million, and India set a franchise record for day-one gross without premieres.

  Critics were split. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave a "B." Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph awarded five stars and called it the best entry since the original. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian saw a return to form. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter noted homages to Jaws in the open water scenes, but said it was unlikely to top anyone's ranked franchise list. Caryn James of BBC considered it the franchise's weakest. Alison Wilmore of Vulture wrote that it "really does manage to be boring." Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting said it "may be time to let this series go extinct." Several critics also found the product placement, including Snickers and Heineken, distracting.

  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated the film for Best Visual Effects at the 98th Academy Awards, held on the 15th of March 2026. The nominees were David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan and Neil Corbould. No Jurassic Park film since The Lost World had earned an Oscar nomination in any category. In May 2026, a sequel to Rebirth was announced as being in development.

  345276