Jurassic Park 4 has long been rumoured and assumed dead in development, but during a recent chat with Captain America director Joe Johnston (who directed JP3) the topic was once again brought up.
Jurassic Park III director Joe Johnston, who’s next project is Marvel’s Captain America film, chatted with them about the film while on the set of the Wolfman ( his most recent film).
“There is a great story for the fourth one that I would be interested in getting involved with and it’s nothing like the first three. It sort of takes thefranchise off in a completely different direction, which is the only way I would want to get involved.”
“We’ve done that and it’s been done three times. Why would anybody go back to that island? It was hard enough to figure out the second and third reason for them to go, but it would take it off in a whole other trilogy basically, but when it gets to that level it’s sort of about studios and Steven’s thing and who knows. I think we are at that point where we are due for another one if we are going to do it. They had what four years between them? 1992… 1996 or 1997, and then 2001, so we are past due. I don’t know, but we will see.”
I feel the same way. When I heard there was going to be a Jurassic Park 4, my very first reaction was “WHO THE HELL WOULD GO BACK THERE??”
So if they did move forward with this I would hope it somehow has a different direction and doesn’t involve some plot to “go back”. But that doesn’t leave much open unless the dinos are now somehow migrating off the island. A pack of prehistoric birds steals eggs and stashes them across the ocean where they hatch and start a new breeding ground?
And whatever happened to that canister of embryos that Nedry attempted to smuggle off the compound in the first movie. We saw it get buried in the mud. After Nedry got car humped by the spitting horse dino. Maybe that can survives and its contents are recovered and bred?
Who knows. Just’s don’t make another where someone has to go back to that island.
So just so we are clear here, there is no indication it IS happening so its still presumed dead. Just that Joe had some interesting things to say on it. And if Captain America puts Johnston in that Nolan realm of worship, maybe he will have a say.
‘Jurassic Park 4’ will revive the JP franchise with a bang. The story opens on the African plains. We follow a pride of Lions hunting a herd of Wildebeest. It’s a long, detailed, beautiful series of shots drenched in the gritty reality of surviving the harsh African Outback. The scenes are fast, bloody and exhilarating. National Geographic in HD. As the matriarch closes in for the kill on its unfortunate victim the screen goes silent and we hear an all too familiar clicking noise. Cut to a large sinister Raptor eye in the background.
Bang! Roll the Opening Titles.
The premise for ‘Jurassic Park 4‐Dark Continent’ is simple. Dinosaurs from Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna have been secretly ‘acquired’ by a large European and Saudi Arabian conglomerate and transported to a massive nature reserve on the African Continent. The intention being to let life simply ‘find a way’. Given Africa’s diverse landscape the powers that be consider it a more than ideal location. By the time the scientific community find out it’s simply too late. The dinosaurs are scattered over millions of acres of African territory. We begin to witness the wonder and awe of tyrannosaurs hunting elephants, brachiosaurs mingling with giraffes, pachycephalosaurs, gazelle, parasaurolophus, zebra, and gallimimus travelling the plains together. The shots and set pieces are dripping in realism. The viewer soon forgets that what they are watching is in fact artificial. Think of it as ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ on Acid. Africa’s diverse climate and habitats allow the story to interweave between desert, jungles, green fields and waterways. This movie would take current special effects technology to the next level, as JP did in the early 90’s.
World opinion is divided. Should the animals be culled, repurchased and transported home or let be. What begins as a moral conundrum soon becomes a matter of survival. On relocation the animals were treated with the appropriate antibodies to survive their new climate. However an unforeseen genetic mutation has caused the dinosaurs to become carriers of an extremely devastating virus. Although dormant for the time being, unless immunized the newly introduced specimens will not only infect all animal life but also human life as well. This virus is untreatable in humans and worldwide extinction is imminent if ALL released species are not treated. If they are left long enough to start breeding the ‘catch and treat’ task will become next to impossible.
Dr. Alan Grant, Dr.Ellie Sattler and Lex Murphy are working on a paeleontogy dig in Northern Africa when the news breaks. Alan and Ellie are coerced into offering their expertise. Lex however is young, energetic and willing to step up to the plate. A group of world leading scientists, palaeontologists and trackers are gathered to lend their expertise and create a plan of action. The technology is developed to ease the task at hand, but at the end of the day these animals especially the smaller predators like the Raptors and Dilophosaurs can only be tracked and captured on foot.
The movie will be super realistic, gritty and an adrenalin fuelled rollercoaster ride. Is the task impossible? What is to become of Africa? Regardless the course of evolution has been irreversibly altered. If humanity survives what kind of world will be left?
Jurassic Park 4 in its simplest terms is the film we fans want. Correction. Need! Too many movie franchises become ridiculous and predictable by their third or fourth outing. I don’t want the most pinnacle movie of my childhood destroyed by ‘genetically mutated dinosaur soldiers’. Or abandoned at such a pinnacle time in cinematic history. Michael Crichton the Master passed on. Don’t let the series do so as well. We are about to enter a decade of Comic Book movies. DC and Marvel are in full battle, if there’s any hope that today’s youths can learn to appreciate the beautiful world of dinosaurs it’s important that this movie gets made. It’s now or never. If we leave it too long they will just wait 15 years to re‐imagine and remake the whole concept again. I’m pleading with all the fans. If you like my concept, get behind it. Maybe just maybe we can get JP4 kick‐started. Hollywood is built on the projected flow of ticket and DVD sales. I would watch this movie; I would be standing in line opening weekend. I would buy the merchandise and buy the DVD! Would you? Steven, Amblin, Universal, if this film is created with the respect and due care it deserves we the fans will watch it. If the idea, script and photography are strong enough, non‐fans will love it! Take the risk. Dedicate it to Mr. Crichton. Sign the A‐list actors you need. Bring back Sam, Laura, David and Jeff. Get the cast, crew and fans excited again.
To the fans: Please Please get behind this idea. Spread the word. I want every JP fan site and Blog to have the image and plot up. I want it featured on every movie blog. I want this idea to reach the people at the top, reach the people who make the decisions and sign the cheques. I can’t do it but WE the movie going public can.
To the Studio Execs in Universal, Amblin and ILM: Listen to the fans. Take us seriously. We know the material and this is what we want. This movie could be BIG. This movie could make serious money!
“Jurassic Park 4‐Dark Continent” Concept
Original Idea and artwork ©Morgan O’Brien
Based upon the ‘Jurassic Park Series’
by Michael Crichton
© Universal City Studios and
Amblin Entertainment INC.
It would be cool if JP4 would actually take place before the first film. And shows all of the trials and tribulations that came with starting this Amusement Park. Many movies have made sequels that are just informational type sequels (X-men,Star Wars, Batman, etc.) I am a Huge fan of JP series and just the sound of the JP theme music makes me feel good. What every they decide, I will be the first one in the theatre to see it. LOL!!!
Is this even necessary? I didn’t think Jurassic Park 3 was good. They should just leave this movie alone.
I dislike the mentality that if they make one bad movie the franchise is over.
With a good story, director, effects etc, there is no reason another sequel couldnt be better than the first.
They pulled an entire second island out of their butts to serve the second film, and they pulled entirely new dinosaurs (and thus, previously unmentioned research) out of their butts for the third film. I would question any writer’s creativity if they pulled out even more research out of their butts for prehistoric mammals. Also, for some reason I can’t explain, it just wouldn’t be as cool. The name Jurassic Park wouldn’t even apply anymore.
I like the idea of diving into the origins of the original dinosaurs though, perhaps as a way to stop them when they get to the mainland?
I like the idea of a crime lord setting up shop on site B and having his way with Hammond’s abandoned research.
I like the idea of never making a fourth installment and leaving me to enjoy numbers 1 and 2 (and maybe number 3 once in a blue moon).
If they do make a 4th, I want Ian Malcolm back. He was always my favorite character because he understood the awesome power of playing God like Hammond did. And going back to get his girlfriend off of site B is probably one of the bravest things any man could do.
Hey, there’s always a reason to go back to a pair of islands full of dinosaurs. For science! Hehe…
And many people do dumber things for worse reasons.
But as much as I’d love the series to return to its former glory, I’m in the “Please Let It Die” section. It was great, it was fun while it lasted, please don’t make it any worse. The first one was spectacular, the second one went in a completely different direction (but it was my favorite, by the way), and the third one was just barely passable. No offense to Johnston.
Well. just as long as they don’t give Raptors machine guns, I’m all for it….
How would I handle a JP4?
A number of things:
1- There’s another question in the first film that was never followed up. The whole deal with what was making the dinosaurs sick (Triceratops in specific) . What if…the dinosaurs started dying out from such sickness,
2- Another (unasked) question from the first film is how Hammond and IGN managed to get the individual DNA from the dinosaurs and separate them and having a suitable host. (The “mother” has to be a dinosaur, not a frog) so I suggest throwing down a bomb shell revelation…we find out who those hosts really are. Sci-fi speaking, say, The Plesiosaurs. With discussions on Plesiosaurs, one could nod to The Loch Ness Monster myth or and/or the exploits of the legendary explorer Marco Polo.
Don’t laugh: the first film opens up such a story possibility. According to evolution, the amber in the Domician Republic (Mosquitos and all-how does a itsy bitsy bug bite into the thick hide of a T Rex anyway?) is 25-40 million years old; Dinos were extinct between 65 to 70 million years. Yes, for sci-fi purposes of storytelling it’s fine. But since they opened the door…
In addition, it is suggested in the first film that the IGN scientists took some educated guesses and got lucky. Hence, there could (sci-fi wise) be hybrid dinosaur clones. ( Lest we forget, thats what the Dinosaurs of these films are- clones)
3- Who says it has to be dinosaurs?
Mammoths, Sabretooth tigers, heck, how about prehistoric man?
Oh, who am I kidding?????
We could start out with something radical, thought provoking and engaging. By the end of the first act all of that would be exiting stage left as the critters go look for dinner, usually the two legged talking, screaming kind. You know.
I think they could do something about like a crime lord or something has setup base on the island, and the U.S.A. has to send a team, but need either Jeff Goldblum or Alan Grant (Sam Neill) or both to help them. It could be ok. I love Jurassic Park. I like them all no matter what they say about them.
Dinosaurs alive and running around on mainland USA could be interesting. I enjoyed the T.rex sequence in The Lost World…
You’re the only one.
A) The can only had enough coolant to last…48 hours, I think? It was a very limited amount of time, and there’s no way those embryos aren’t mush by now. /end nitpick
B) Dactyals stashing eggs on the mainland: Well, yes. I don’t see any logical reason for Dactyals to take any eggs but their own, but if some one can come up with some way for enough eggs to get over there, than yeah.
I mean, the end of The Lost World really should have been the lead in of Jurassic Park 3. And the end of JC3 even had the dactyals escaping the island. Maybe InGen had a successful excursion to the research island and picked up enough stuff to jump start their second park idea, but then got lost and forgotten in a warehouse somewhere when Hammond’s nephew got ate. Maybe a crack team of thieves and hunters got enough stuff off the island, and sold it all on the black market to some mad scientist who…gets ate. Someone has to get ate.
Jurassic Park has always been, and always will be my all time favorite movie. It was a movie about what happened when you tried to play God. I though the second movie was pretty good, but it lost some of that. And the third one, as fullmetal_medji alluded to, was a mediocre adventure/thriller that generally isn’t worth watching, IMO.
I won’t hold my breath that we’ll get another good Jurassic Park movie, but just as long as we don’t get any of that ‘prehistoric disease’ crap that was up on IMDB a while back, I won’t be too horribly pissed.
Maybe now the dinosaurs will migrate more towards where there are a great population of people.
Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies of all time. The Lost World sucked the big one. Jurassic Park 3 is a guilty pleasure of mine.
I wouldn’t mind a fourth.
From the way the sequels turned out there better be a hell of a script. If not, then Jurassic park will turn into a mediocre horror series (with dinosaurs. However, that doesn’t matter because if it’s got frekin’ dinosaurs in it ppl will come.