“Jurassic World: Rebirth” has already hauled in a staggering $870M at the worldwide box office, and now comes word that Universal isn’t ready to let this dinosaur cash cow go extinct just yet.
According to scooper Daniel Richtman, the studio is already at work on a follow-up, one that would once again center around Scarlett Johansson’s covert ops expert, Zoe Bennett. No further details have surfaced, but considering the numbers, a sequel was never really in doubt. This is technically not even news. It’s reporting on the inevitable.
‘Rebirth’ also starred Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Luna Blaise, Rupert Friend, and Ed Skrein — all joined in on the prehistoric mayhem. And let’s not forget — that $870M million total doesn’t even include ancillary revenue streams like digital, physical sales, or the inevitable mountain of toy sales. This is an endless cash cow.
Plot-wise, “Rebirth” picked up five years after “Dominion.” Dinosaurs now exist in scattered pockets across the globe, and humanity believes it has things under control. Johansson’s Bennett leads a mission to extract DNA samples from the three largest creatures across land, sea, and air — genetic material rumored to hold the key to revolutionary medical breakthroughs. Things, naturally, go off the rails.
The ensemble included Johansson, Bailey, and Ali lead the cast, with Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge, Belchir Sylvain, and Ed Skrein all rounding out the roster. Gareth Edwards (“Godzilla,” “Rogue One,” “The Creator”) directed from a screenplay by David Koepp.
No word yet whether Edwards and Koepp will come back for the sequel, but Universal will likely make them an offer they can’t refuse.
If the sequel rumors pan out, don’t be surprised. Universal has nearly $900 million reasons to keep the dinosaurs stomping.