Gareth Edwards has been tapped to direct the next entry in the Jurassic Park franchise. Edwards is no stranger to monster movies, having directed 2014’s Godzilla, which kicked off Legendary’s MonsterVerse. However, in a recent interview with Collider, Edwards revealed how eager he was when he got the call to direct the film.
Jurassic Park 7, also known as Jurassic World 4, has been scheduled to be released on July 2, 2025, closely edging ahead of James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy (July 11) and Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four (25 July). The film will see a new chapter in the world of the Jurassic Park franchise, with none of the old cast expected to return, either from the original or the sequel trilogies.
Gareth Edwards put a hold on his own plans for Jurassic World 4
Jurassic World 4, as it currently, stands, seems to be in good enough shape that Universal Pictures has announced that it plans to release the film in July 2025. Gareth Edwards might not have been the first choice of the studio for the film, but the Rogue One director instantly dropped what he was working on to aid the studio in directing the film. Speaking to Collider, the director revealed:
“I was about to take a break and I started writing my next idea for a film, and this is the only movie that made me drop everything like a stone and dive right in.”
The script for the film has been drafted by David Koepp who was responsible for the script of the first two films in the franchise. Gareth Edwards would be directing the film to start a new phase in the cinematic universe, as most actors from previous installments are not expected to return. However, if the film is to make its July 2025 date, it has to nail down the cast and begin production in the next few months, so that there is adequate time to produce and release marketing material, while also giving the post-production department of the film enough time to do the story justice.
Jurassic World 4 will start at a very interesting place
Jurassic World: Dominion ended on a very normalizing note, one that took the wonder of dinosaurs and decided to regularise it in a world with human beings. As of the latest entry in the franchise, Jurassic World found itself in a world where humans have fully integrated dinosaurs into the planet, with legislation providing the creatures with sanctuary like any other animal on the planet.
Now, the question that audiences are bound to ask is: where does it go from there? After all, a large part of the appeal of the Jurassic Park franchise was the fact that Dinosaurs had been brought back from extinction and were marooned on an island, which allowed for a lot of drama and thrill, which is what made the first film in the franchise a masterpiece.
However, it remains to be seen what Universal has cooked up in the last few years, ever since the second trilogy of films in the franchise came to a close. It is important to reserve judgment until Universal has released the first teaser and further updates are released to the public. So far, the franchise does have a splendid record when it comes to starting a trilogy with a bang.
