A New “Jurassic World” Movie Will Stomp Into Theaters From Original “Jurassic Park” Scribe

A dinosaur-sized piece of news dropped yesterday when it was revealed that Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park writer David Koepp will be penning a new addition to the franchise.

The last film in the franchise was director Colin Trevvorow’s Jurassic World: Dominion, presumably the third and final film in the trilogy that began with 2015’s Jurassic World. Yet while that particular storyline, starring Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing, might have roared its last, the talented Koepp is back in the saddle, penning a brand new film. His screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s 1993 original was a practically flawless piece of writing.

Koepp’s script will usher in a new era of the Jurassic era, various outlets report, with a brand new storyline. That means that not only is it unlikely that Pratt or Howard would return, but original stars and Jurassic World: Dominion returnees Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill will also not be involved in this adventure. Because it’s being billed as a Jurassic World film rather than Jurassic Park, it’s also likely the story will take place in the present-day or in the future, opening up a wide vista of possibilities that a period piece would not.

Koepp has been quietly working on the script for long enough that Universal Pictures believes they might even be able to make it a 2025 release. Returning to the franchise are Jurassic World producers, Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, with Spielberg executive producing.

Koepp knows his way around a blockbuster, having also penned the first Mission: Impossible (1996), the first Spider-Man (2002), and last year’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Koepp also made a splash at this year’s Sundance, writing Steven Soderbergh’s ghost movie Presence, with another Soderbergh collaboration on the way, Black Bag, a spy thriller set to star Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender.

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Featured image: A Mosasaurus in Jurassic World Dominion. Courtesy Universal Pictures.