Stunt coordinator-turned-filmmaker David Leitch has been tapped to direct the next ‘Jurassic World.’ The film, written by David Koepp, is set for release on July 2, 2025.
Do I personally believe Leitch will give us something fresh and original in this next ‘Jurassic’ adventure? Is he this messianic figure that will come in and finally deliver the first great ‘Jurassic’ film since Spielberg? Frankly, no, I don’t.
You’d be crazy to believe that Universal aren’t fully committed to interfere in the creative decisions for any of these ‘Jurassic’ movies. It’s as valuable an IP to them as any of the superheroes are to Marvel, and it must absolutely be protected. This is an immensely profitable franchise — the last trilogy grossed nearly $4 billion worldwide.
This latest film is said to be a new take on ‘Jurassic’ with former castmembers Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard not expected to return, nor the original trilogy’s Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern and Sam Neill. They’re scratching off nostalgia for something fresh and new.
Leitch’s forte is highly stylized action — I wonder how he’ll do with dinosaurs added into the mix. His filmography is very mainstream and includes the likes of “Atomic Blonde,” “Deadpool 2,” “Bullet Train”, “Hobbs & Shaw” and this coming May’s “The Fall Guy.”
Collin Trevorrow directed two of the last three ‘Jurassic World’ movies. I guess you can say that Leitch is an improvement? J.A. Bayona helmed 2018’s ‘Fallen Kingdom’ and I’m sure he’s glad to not be a part of this franchise anymore — his Netflix hit, “Society of the Snow,” was just Oscar-nominated for Best International Film
Regardless, seems like Universal quite like this Leitch fella. They recently moved his “The Fall Guy” to a primo May release. They have a lot of confidence in that one, even though I’ve heard some very shaky things about its recent test scores.