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Even for the most die-hard fans of Jurassic Park, the tremendous success of Jurassic World had to come as a little bit of a shock. Considering the fact that Jurassic Park 3 did very good but not record-devastating business when it was released, no one was expecting droves with the latest installment but then it quickly became one of the biggest hits of 2015. Credit must go equally to Colin Trevorrow, who kept the action brisk and thrilling for the most part, and Chris Pratt, whose performance, for all its misogynistic undertones, recalled something like Cary Grant's work in Howard Hawks' sublime Only Angels Have Wings, as well as other famous adventuring heroes.
This is all to say that Jurassic World 2 has some mighty big shoes to fill, and that puts the pressure directly on J.A. Bayona, the director of the sequel. Right now, Bayona is doing press for A Monster Calls, his glowingly reviewed supernatural tearjerker that took Toronto International Film Festival by storm. At TIFF, our very own Steven Weintraub talked to Bayona briefly about where they are in terms of pre-production and planning on the second Jurassic World film.
Though he obviously couldn't reveal much, Bayona did confirm that the films are part of a trilogy and that one of his first challenges is thinking about how his story will fit into that storytelling. He also said that they are currently writing the film and are expecting to begin shooting toward the beginning of 2017, with the film hitting theaters early summer 2018. We had a vague idea that this was essentially the schedule, but it's good to hear it from Bayona, who will almost certainly be one of the most talked about directors around once A Monster Calls hits theaters this Winter.
Jurassic World 2 will hit theaters on June 22nd, 2018. Click here for all our previous coverage.
