Jurassic World: Rebirth Unleashes Hidden Franchise Gems
Okay, but why does every new Jurassic flick feel like a personal fossil audit? With Jurassic World: Rebirth roaring into theaters July 2, it’s time to dig up some seriously cool franchise archaeology. This next-gen chapter stars Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey on a covert tropical mission to snag dinosaur blood that could cure heart disease—naturally, a T. rex break-out is on the itinerary.
Long before this reboot, Steven Spielberg was pitched a very different Michael Crichton project: an ER series. He shelved that idea in favor of Jurassic Park after Crichton casually dropped his dino manuscript, only to return years later and co-develop NBC’s medical saga E.R. Universal had actually plunked down two million bucks for those novel rights in 1990—James Cameron claims he was neck-and-neck with Spielberg for the bid and only realized moments too late he’d already lost out. Cameron quipped in a 2021 chat that his version “would’ve been like Aliens on Jurassic Island,” but he’s glad the PG-13 terror won out.
Today’s Rebirth may feel brand-new, but half of what makes this tale tick is old Hollywood lore. During a 2011 Indiana Jones anniversary shindig, Spielberg let slip that Harrison Ford waved goodbye to Dr. Alan Grant, paving the way for Sam Neill’s legendary hat and whip-smart dinosaur dodging. Other A-list names—William Hurt, Richard Dreyfuss—were also in Spielberg’s casting crosshairs before Neill sealed the deal. Then there’s Laura Dern’s Cinderella story: she beat out Gwyneth Paltrow, Helen Hunt, Sandra Bullock and Robin Wright to embody Dr. Ellie Sattler. Dern later admitted Nicolas Cage nudged her into that Spielberg phone call by dead-serious insisting, “You have to do this.”
Fast-forward through six sequels, six billion box-office dollars and a cast mash-up in 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion, and the franchise is still king of the dino sandbox. Scarlett Johansson has been fangirling since childhood—she reportedly camped out in a Jurassic Park pup tent for a solid year—so she lunged at every casting whisper, flooding her agents with “I’m available” alerts until Spielberg said yes.
Jurassic World: Rebirth promises Spielberg-style wonder meets modern action, plus the red-carpet premiere June 23 will livestream on E! News (5:30 p.m. ET). If you thought you’d seen every sneaky franchise tie-in, think again: these behind-the-scenes nuggets reveal the Hollywood DNA that still makes Jurassic Park a timeless blockbuster. Anyway, that’s the scoop. Do with it what you will.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! News, Vanity Fair, Variety (James Cameron interview), NBCUniversal archives
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
