On the heels of a fantastically successful box office showing, Universal Pictures has announced that a sequel to Jurassic World is already in the works, and is slated to hit theaters on Friday, June 22, 2018.
So that might be a little while to wait, but fans should have no fear knowing that both Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have been tapped to reprise their roles as motorcycle-riding dinosaur tamer Owen Grady and Jurassic Park executive lady, Claire Dearing.
While Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow won’t be in the chair calling the shots this hime around, he and his writing partner, Derek Connolly, will again pen the script for Jurassic World 2 as they did for the first film. Trevorrow is on the record saying the Jurassic series of films feels very much like Star Wars in the sense that different directors should have the chance to craft the story as they see fit through their eyes.
Nerdist reports on the success of the franchise, and the plans for the Jurassic World sequel:
This news had been expected after Jurassic World demolished the opening weekend record of Marvel’s The Avengers with $204 million. Jurassic World recently passed The Avengers for third-place on the all-time domestic box office chart with $614 million, and it has brought in over $1.5 billion when the international box office is factored in.
Executive producer (and director of the first two Jurassic Park movies) Steven Spielberg was clearly correct in assuming that the general public was ready for another Jurassic Park sequel after the franchise was dormant for 14 years. Spielberg was also vindicated for halting production on Jurassic World until the script was amended to his satisfaction.
Jurassic World also completed the ascension of Pratt as one of Hollywood’s biggest box office draws. Guardians of the Galaxy was not a fluke and Pratt picked his projects well. Now Pratt has two blockbuster film franchises that will occupy his time for the next few years. And there are still persistent rumors linking Pratt to the new Indiana Jones movies that are currently in development at Disney.
If you haven’t seen Jurassic World yet, you should probably do that some time between now and 2018. I’m so pumped on the news of this sequel I might go watch it again tonight.
[h/t <a href="http://Nerdist]