2015 film directed by Colin Trevorrow
Jurassic World is a 2015 American science fiction action film directed by Colin Trevorrow, who
co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Derek Connolly from a story by Jaffa and Silver.
It is the first installment in the Jurassic World trilogy and the fourth installment overall in the
Jurassic Park film series, following Jurassic Park III (2001). The film stars Chris Pratt,
Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, BD Wong, and Irrfan Khan. Wong
reprised his role from the original Jurassic Park film. Set 22 years after the events of Jurassic
Park, Jurassic World takes place on the same fictional island of Isla Nublar, located off the
Pacific coast of Costa Rica. A successful theme park of cloned dinosaurs, dubbed Jurassic World, has
operated on the island for years, bringing John Hammond's dream to fruition. The park plunges into chaos when
a transgenic dinosaur escapes from its enclosure and goes on a rampage, while a conspiracy orchestrated by
the park's staff creates more dangers.
Universal Pictures intended to begin production of a fourth Jurassic Park film in 2004 for a mid-2005
release but was in development hell while the script underwent several revisions. Following a suggestion
from executive producer Steven Spielberg, writers Jaffa and Silver explored the idea of a functional
dinosaur park. Once Trevorrow was hired as director in 2013 he followed the same idea while developing a new
script with Connolly. Filming lasted from April to August 2014 in Louisiana and Hawaii. The dinosaurs were
created by Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic using CGI and by Legacy Effects using life-sized animatronics.
Production was completed in May 2015.
Jurassic World was theatrically released in the United States on June 12, 2015, by Universal Pictures.
It was praised by critics, with many considering it to be the best Jurassic Park sequel. It grossed
$1.6 billion worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2015, the third highest-grossing film
of all time at the moment of its release, the highest-grossing in the Jurassic Park series and the
highest-grossing film released by Universal.
Two sequels have released, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion
(2022).
Plot
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Brothers Zach and Gray Mitchell visit Jurassic World, a dinosaur theme park on Isla Nublar, for winter break,
of which their maternal aunt Claire Dearing is the operations manager. Claire assigns her assistant Zara as
the boys' guide, but they evade her and explore on their own.
Elsewhere on the island, Navy veteran and ethologist Owen Grady has been training a Velociraptor squad
composed of Blue, Charlie, Delta, and Echo, and researching their intelligence. Based on the raptors' ability
to follow commands, the head of InGen security Vic Hoskins believes that the animals can be weaponized, an idea
Owen and his assistant Barry vehemently oppose.
Before its opening, Claire and park owner Simon Masrani inspect the park's newest attraction, the
Indominus rex, a transgenic dinosaur created by geneticist Dr. Henry Wu. Masrani tasks Owen with
evaluating the enclosure's security. Owen warns Claire that the Indominus lacks social skills, making
it dangerous and unpredictable. When the Indominus seemingly escapes her compound, Owen and two park
workers enter the enclosure. The Indominus, which can camouflage itself and mask its heat signature,
suddenly appears. Owen survives, but the Indominus devours the other two men before escaping into the
island's interior. Realizing that it is highly vicious and intelligent, Owen advises Masrani to have the
specimen destroyed, but to protect his company's investment, Masrani dispatches a specialized unit to subdue
it with non-lethal weaponry so that it can safely be returned to its paddock. After the unit is slaughtered,
Claire orders the evacuation of the island's northern sector, while Masrani ponders Owen's warning and
accosts Wu.
While exploring the park in a tour vehicle, Zach and Gray enter a restricted area. The Indominus arrives
and destroys the vehicle, but the boys narrowly escape. They find the ruins of the original Jurassic Park
visitor center, repair an old Jeep Wrangler, and drive back to the park resort.
As Claire and Owen search for the boys, they barely escape the Indominus as well. Masrani and two troopers
hunt down the Indominus by helicopter, but it breaks into the park's aviary. The Pteranodons and
Dimorphodons, startled by the Indominus, flee the aviary and fly into Masrani's helicopter,
resulting it in crashing and killing its passengers, before converging onto the resort, and attacking everyone,
including Zara who is then devoured by a Mosasaurus. Zach and Gray find Owen and Claire at the resort as
armed personnel shoot down the pterosaurs.
Assuming command, Hoskins orders the raptors to be used to track the Indominus, whereupon Owen reluctantly
complies and spearheads the assault with the raptors. Upon finding the Indominus, the dinosaurs begin
communicating among themselves. Owen realizes that the Indominus has Velociraptor DNA, and it
usurps Owen's command of the raptors, becoming the pack's new alpha. Troops fire on the Indominus, but it
escapes. The raptors slaughter most of the soldiers, while Charlie is killed in the chaos. Hoskins evacuates Dr. Wu
and the dinosaur embryos from the island to protect Dr. Wu's research. Owen, Claire, and the boys find Hoskins at the
lab securing more embryos, but Delta breaks in and kills him. Owen restores his bond with the three surviving raptors
before the Indominus reappears. They attack the hybrid, but Delta and Echo are killed while Blue is knocked
unconscious. Claire releases Jurassic Park's veteran Tyrannosaurus rex from its paddock and lures it into
a battle with the Indominus. The Indominus eventually gains the advantage over the Tyrannosaurus
until Blue recovers and joins the battle. The duo overwhelms the Indominus until it gets cornered at the lagoon's
edge, where it is dragged underwater by the resident Mosasaurus.
The survivors are evacuated, and the island is abandoned once again. Zach and Gray reunite with their parents, while Owen
and Claire decide to stay together.
Cast
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Additionally, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Buffett appear in cameo as themselves, while the film's producer, Patrick Crowley,
plays Masrani's flight instructor. Colin Trevorrow briefly provides the voice of Mr. DNA, an animated DNA helix who
explains the park's technology to visitors, a character voiced by Greg Burson in Jurassic Park. Brad Bird provides
a voice cameo as the park's monorail announcer and Jack Horner, the film's technical advisor, also makes a cameo appearance.
Eric Edelstein appears briefly as a paddock supervisor. A photograph of Jeff Goldblum is used to represent his character Dr.
Ian Malcolm on the back cover of a book.
Themes and analysis
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Director Colin Trevorrow stated that the Indominus rex, the synthetic hybrid dinosaur at the center of the film's
story, is symbolic of consumer and corporate excess. The dinosaur was "meant to embody [humanity's] worst tendencies. We're
surrounded by wonder and yet we want more, and we want it bigger, faster, louder, better. And in the world of the movie, the
animal is designed based on a series of corporate focus groups". He also stated that "there's something in the film about
our greed and our desire for profit. The Indominus rex, to me, is very much that desire, that need to be satisfied".
Film journalists have noted parallels between the workings of the park in Jurassic World and of the film and
entertainment industry. Actor James DuMont, who has a small role in the film, said "the person [and] the environment are one"
is an obvious theme; another theme is "those who do not stop evil are supporting and encouraging it".
The film also explores animal rights concepts; the Indominus rex was raised in captivity and in complete isolation,
making the creature "not fully functional". Trevorrow has cited the 2013 documentary film Blackfish, which is critical
of the captive orca at SeaWorld, as a key inspiration for Jurassic World. Captive orca Tilikum, which was raised partly
in isolation and was responsible for the deaths of three people, served as an inspiration for the Indominus rex, and the
public relations and corporate excesses of SeaWorld depicted in the documentary inspired the fictional park inJurassic World.
Production
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Development
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In May 2001, Steven Spielberg had Amblin Entertainment commence the development of ideas for Jurassic Park IV, which
he planned to produce. Initially, Jurassic Park III director Joe Johnston was not interested in directing the fourth
film. In 2002, William Monahan was announced as screenwriter, and a release date was set for mid-2005. Kathleen Kennedy would
produce the film, and Spielberg would serve as executive producer.
An early story idea would partially involve dinosaurs migrating to the Costa Rican mainland. A team of experts, including
Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ian Malcolm, would chart an expedition to an offshore island and discover the dinosaurs breeding freely.
Part of the plot would involve the characters devising a way to restrict the spread of the dinosaurs and prevent an ecological
disaster. Early concept art also depicted genetically engineered human-dinosaur mercenaries. Monahan's first draft of the script
was finished in July 2003; the story was not set in a jungle, as in previous films. Monahan subsequently left the project to work
onKingdom of Heaven. He was replaced by John Sayles, who wrote two drafts of the script.
In one draft, a new character, a mercenary named Nick Harris, would be charged with training a team of genetically modified
Deinonychus for use on rescue missions and to combat drug dealers. The concept of a human who trains dinosaurs came from
Spielberg. By April 2005, the film had been postponed, as Spielberg was dissatisfied with the script revisions.
Frank Marshall would eventually join the project as a producer. Progress on the film stalled during 2005 as Marshall and Spielberg
were busy with other film projects. Additional work on the film was expected to begin following the release of a fourth Indiana
Jones film, which Marshall and Spielberg were working on. In 2006, Spielberg said Johnston would direct the film, but by April
2007, Johnston was no longer involved as director. A release date of 2008 was expected, but was later delayed to 2009. By 2010,
Johnston was involved with the project again and planned for the film to be the first in a new Jurassic Park trilogy.
Johnston hoped to further develop the project with Spielberg after they finished other projects, including Johnston's 2011 film,
Captain America: The First Avenger.
In 2011, writer Mark Protosevich was hired. He wrote two story treatments, neither of which were approved.Spielberg and Kennedy
felt that the film did not yet have an adequate story. In 2012, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver were hired to write the script.The
writers incorporated three ideas from Spielberg: a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, a human who has a relationship with
trained raptors (from Sayles's earlier draft), and a human-eating dinosaur that escapes and has to be stopped. The concept of a
dinosaur with a chameleon-like ability to render itself nearly invisible is a plot device from Crichton's The Lost World
novel that had not been used in previous films.
In January 2013, Universal set a release date of June 13, 2014. Kennedy later left the project in February as she would be busy
with the upcoming Star Wars sequel trilogy. A month later, Colin Trevorrow was hired as director, and Patrick Crowley was
announced as a producer alongside Marshall. Trevorrow and his writing partner, Derek Connolly, rewrote the earlier draft by Jaffa
and Silver while retaining Spielberg's three story ideas. The film's release was delayed by a year to give the writers time to perfect
the script. In September, Universal confirmed the film's title Jurassic World, with a release scheduled for June 12, 2015.
The film is set 22 years after the events of Jurassic Park, and is considered a direct sequel to that film; although
The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III remain canon in the series, Jurassic World ignores their events
as they occurred on a different island.
Between 2003 and 2008, several cast members from previous Jurassic Park films were expected to reprise their roles, including
Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant, Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm, Richard Attenborough as John Hammond, and Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Sattler.
Attenborough retired from acting following a fall at his house in 2008. A statue of his character is featured in the film. Trevorrow and
Connolly did not want to bring back the other characters unless there would be a good reason for them to be involved in the story; they
considered Dr. Henry Wu, the scientist responsible for recreating dinosaurs, a logical choice.
Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson were cast as the child characters in October 2013. Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt were cast in the lead
roles. Vincent D'Onofrio and Irrfan Khan were cast in early 2014, and BD Wong was cast to reprise his role of Dr. Henry Wu, marking the
character's first appearance since the original Jurassic Park film in 1993.
Filming
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Principal photography began on April 10,
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