This text comprises minor spoilers for “Jurassic World Rebirth.”
When “Jurassic World Rebirth” was first introduced in January of 2024, the information got here as a little bit of a shock. Setting apart Common’s formidable plan to get the film from David Koepp’s script to cinemas in just a bit over a 12 months’s time (a feat which they impressively completed, placing to disgrace the traditional knowledge of blockbuster filmmaking), the announcement got here slightly below two years after the discharge of the prior entry within the sequence, 2022’s “Jurassic World Dominion.” That film was not simply the top of the preliminary trilogy begun by 2015’s “Jurassic World,” however presupposed to be the grand finale to each the “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” movies, working in a similar way to 2019’s “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.” The title “Rebirth” appeared to point that this new movie could also be a smooth reboot of the whole franchise, main followers to invest on when and the place the film may be going down. Because the director’s chair was stuffed by Gareth Edwards and actors like Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali started to be forged, it certainly seemed like “Rebirth” can be carving its personal slice out of this world fairly than bringing again any plotlines or characters from the earlier movies.
But now that the film is in theaters, it has been revealed that “Rebirth” doesn’t happen in any form of rebooted or alternate continuity. Certain, the film takes place in a brand new location: a beforehand unseen island named Ile Saint-Hubert, the place the corporate InGen performed some genetic dinosaur hybridization experiments. And no legacy characters make any form of look within the movie — not Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), or Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), and even Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong). But regardless of this distancing itself from the earlier movies, the film makes certain to point that it’s a part of the continuity of the sequence, making it not a reboot however a model new journey inside the world of the franchise. To this finish, there is a second the place an authentic franchise character’s title is dropped, making a direct connection between “Rebirth” and the unique movies, in addition to opening the door for some potential crossover sooner or later.
Dr. Henry Loomis is aware of Dr. Alan Grant
In “Jurassic World Rebirth,” a pharmaceutical company represented by Martin Krebs (Rupert Buddy) places collectively a crew of mercenaries led by Zora Bennett (Johansson) to go to Ile Saint-Hubert so as to extract some treasured dinosaur blood that will result in new life-saving medicines value massive bucks. Surmising that the expedition goes to want a dinosaur professional, they search out the providers of Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a paleontologist who’s discovering that the general public’s curiosity in dinosaurs is waning because the creatures are starting to die out throughout the Earth as a consequence of extended publicity to a too-unfriendly local weather. At one level through the crew’s journey whereas stranded on Saint-Hubert, Loomis reveals that in his youthful years he studied beneath Dr. Alan Grant, performed in “Jurassic Park,” “Jurassic Park III,” and “Jurassic World Dominion” by Sam Neill.
Aside from the existence of InGen and a world filled with dinosaurs trying to cohabitate with people, this point out of Grant, small although it might be, is the most important direct connection that “Rebirth” makes to the opposite “Jurassic” movies. It is a intelligent alternative on Koepp’s half, provided that this little little bit of backstory immediately endears Loomis to the viewers much more, giving us a sign that with regards to the research of dinos, this man is reliable. It additionally makes for an implied reference to “Jurassic Park III,” particularly to the character of Billy Brennan (Alessandro Nivola). In that movie, Brennan was a scholar and pal of Grant’s, and his perception in paleontology went as far as to attempt to abduct a Velociraptor egg so as to hopefully promote it for funding. Billy ultimately realized the error of his methods, and his storyline appears to echo a bit of in how Loomis makes an attempt to plunder the nest of a pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus, so as to extract a few of an egg’s DNA. For sure, Loomis’ actions, nevertheless well-intended, draw the ire of Ms. Quetzal. These paleontologists are at all times getting themselves in hassle!
Might the point out of Grant imply the return of legacy characters in a future movie?
To be clear, the Alan Grant name-drop in “Rebirth” solely features within the methods detailed above, and is totally not there as some form of tease for a future film or look. It does elevate the query whether or not one thing with Grant and the opposite legacy characters within the “Jurassic” franchise would possibly occur down the street, although, particularly as a result of “Rebirth” is, refreshingly, a one-shot movie; it is completely satisfied to be a self-contained “Jurassic” journey within the custom of “Jurassic Park III” and even “Jurassic World.” On this means, the “Rebirth” a part of the title feels a bit of like a misnomer, for whereas it is apparent that it has a meta connotation of a restart of the sequence after its assumed finale in “Dominion,” it would not actually clarify what the longer term would possibly maintain for the franchise, if something.
There are a number of characters who survive the occasions of “Rebirth,” so it is attainable that one or a lot of them would possibly make a return look in a future “Jurassic” film, but there aren’t any dangling plotlines or setups that make a return really feel essential. On the flip facet, the final time we noticed Dr. Grant, he’d rekindled his romance with Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and the couple have been about to testify earlier than Congress in regards to the shenanigans surrounding the Biosyn company. Would possibly Dr. Grant want to meet up with Dr. Loomis, his outdated scholar, in a fashion much like how Grant visited Ellie in “Jurassic Park III?” Or will the paleontologists discover themselves embarking on a brand new journey collectively, maybe with some new faces becoming a member of them? As we perceive from Dr. Malcolm’s chaos principle, no matter may occur would possibly doubtless occur, so all we’d like do is wait and see.
“Jurassic World Rebirth” is in theaters now.
