Following the reveal of a brand-new poster depicting a mosquito resting on a dinosaur, and the announcement of a five-minute sneak preview that will serve as a prologue of sorts, Jurassic World: Dominion is suddenly getting a lot of attention. Set for release on June 10 next year, the sixth Jurassic Park installment - or third Jurassic World installment - will feature dinosaurs on mainland America, and how the world has changed following the unleashing of genetic power. With director Colin Trevorrow giving us plenty of hints about Jurassic World: Dominion, from Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Ian Malcolm having major roles to the film being something of a "globe-trotting spy thriller", it's time to look back at the previous five entries, as well as short film Battle at Big Rock, and see where the franchise could go post-Dominion.
1993 saw the arrival of the ground-breaking cinematic landmark film Jurassic Park, which brought dinosaurs to life using incredible animatronics and CGI, courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic. In the film, InGen did the same, except they used fossilized dinosaur DNA, creating a dinosaur-inhabited theme park on a Costa Rican island. However, once corporate espionage was thrown into the mix, the dinosaurs escaped and the park collapsed. Its 1997 sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, took us to a new setting in the form of Site B (aka Isla Sorna), the breeding ground for Jurassic Park. After a lot more running and screaming, the world would finally learn the existence of dinosaurs when an escaped tyrannosaurus rex took to the streets of San Diego, ultimately rendering Site B "off-limits" to the public.
2001 threequel Jurassic Park lll took us back to Site B for a rescue mission. At this point, it seemed as though fans would never get to see the original island, Isla Nublar, ever again. In fact, 14 long years passed before fans ever saw another Jurassic Park movie again. It wasn't until Colin Trevorrow revived the franchise in the form of Jurassic World; a rebranding both on and off the screen. The long-awaited sequel finally saw the park open on Isla Nublar, however, to no surprise, the creation of a hybrid dinosaur led to a series of events that destroyed the park all over again. In 2018, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom took things down an unexpected route. To ensure the survival of the franchise, Isla Nublar was destroyed, and the dinosaurs were unleashed onto mainland America. The following year, Universal released Battle at Big Rock, a short film set a year after the events of Fallen Kingdom, which focused on a blended family on a camping trip, during which they encounter an allosaurus.
While it might be tricky to speculate as to where the franchise could go when Jurassic World: Dominion is yet to hit theaters, we do know that Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, who is also at the helm of Dominion, previously stated that the new installment is the film he's wanted to make "his whole life", but that he knew "it would take two films to get there". It's unlikely the director set out to make the 'final' entry in a franchise his entire life, so it's possible that, while this film will in many ways ‘wrap things up', that it might also trigger a new generation of sequels.
So Jurassic World: Dominion will indeed conclude the Jurassic World trilogy, and according to Trevorrow serve as a "culmination" of all six movies. This does of course sound very final, but last year, producer Frank Marshall said that Jurassic World: Dominion would not be the final film in the franchise, that it would be "the start of a new era", which leaves the future open for many possibilities.
With the success of Netflix animated show Camp Cretaceous and 2019's eight-minute canonical film Battle at Big Rock, it's possible we'll see a live-action Jurassic series in the coming years, especially with the film-turned-television format being a hugely popular trend (you only need to look at what Marvel and Star Wars have done). But what about the films themselves? Is the Jurassic franchise destined to undergo yet another rebranding of sorts? Or will it go into hiatus until another director excavates it from cinematic fossilization? The real question, though, is where could we go from here? Many franchises have gone down the prequel route, so it's possible we might one day get to see how the original Jurassic Park was first built. Either way, we'll know more once the credits roll on Jurassic World: Dominion.
Jurassic World: Dominion releases in theatres next year on June 10, 2022. The short film will release alongside Fast & Furious 9 on June 24 this year, however, there's no word on when we can expect a trailer for the main film.
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