New JURASSIC WORLD Sequel Title Suggests a Fight to Free the Dinosaurs
The dinosaurs have spent decades escaping captivity, surviving extinction-level disasters, and dealing with humans who can't seem to stop exploiting them.
Now, the next Jurassic World movie could take things in a different direction, with a story about fighting to protect the prehistoric creatures rather than running for your life from them.
A possible title for the next installment has surfaced, and it offers an interesting clue about where the franchise might be heading.
According to the latest issue of Production Weekly, the upcoming sequel is listed as Jurassic World Liberation. The project appears alongside other major productions, including Avengers: Secret Wars and Michael Bay's Transformers 8.
The title actually surfaced earlier this year, although those initial reports were dismissed. Universal Pictures hasn't officially confirmed it, so there's still a chance the name could change.
As for who might direct, J.A. Bayona, who previously helmed Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, is reportedly the frontrunner to replace Gareth Edwards, who departed the sequel over creative differences.
If Liberation turns out to be the official title, it could point toward a pretty cool direction for the franchise. Instead of another mission to capture dinosaurs, we might see a group of people trying to free them.
The Jurassic movies have always used their titles to give audiences an idea of what to expect. Steven Spielberg's original Jurassic Park introduced John Hammond's disastrous dinosaur theme park, while The Lost World: Jurassic Park took audiences to Isla Sorna, where dinosaurs were living without the restrictions of a theme park.
Jurassic Park III skipped a traditional subtitle, although its claw-mark-inspired Roman numeral gave the movie its own identity.
When Colin Trevorrow revived the franchise in 2015, he convinced Spielberg to embrace the Jurassic World title, reflecting Hammond's dream of a functioning dinosaur attraction finally becoming a reality.
Fallen Kingdom destroyed Isla Nublar, Jurassic World Dominion brought dinosaurs into the human world, and Jurassic World Rebirth returned the franchise to isolated dinosaur habitats with a new cast of characters.
That brings us to Liberation, which sounds like the dinosaurs might finally have some humans willing to fight for their freedom. It's actually an idea the franchise has explored before.
In The Lost World, Vince Vaughn played Nick Van Owen, a photographer and environmental activist who joined forces with Sarah Harding, played by Julianne Moore, to sabotage InGen's dinosaur hunting operation. Their efforts resulted in captured dinosaurs being released, creating plenty of chaos for everyone involved.
Bayona explored similar territory in Fallen Kingdom, when Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) attempted to rescue dinosaurs from an impending volcanic eruption. Unfortunately, their rescue mission turned out to be part of a scheme to capture the animals and sell them to wealthy buyers.
More recently, Rebirth approached the subject from a conservation angle. Scarlett Johansson's Zora Bennett and Mahershala Ali's Duncan Kincaid survived an expedition to collect dinosaur DNA for a pharmaceutical company. By the end of their adventure, they chose to do the right thing rather than cash in on their discovery.
That decision could make them ideal candidates for another dinosaur-related mission with Zora and Duncan returning for an expedition where the objective isn't collecting DNA samples but protecting endangered dinosaurs from poachers and corporations looking to profit from them.
There's also an opportunity to bring back some familiar faces. Dominion reunited the original Jurassic Park cast, so why not give The Lost World characters a similar reunion?
Seeing Ian Malcolm, Sarah Harding, and Nick Van Owen return to recruit the surviving characters from Rebirth could be a fun way to connect the different eras of the franchise. It would also make sense to bring back characters who have already risked their lives protecting dinosaurs.
There's even another potential addition to the cast as Anne Hathaway recently expressed interest in joining her friend Scarlett Johansson in the Jurassic franchise.
With Hathaway already having experience in dinosaur-related territory through The End of Oak Street, it would be interesting to see her enter the world of genetically resurrected prehistoric predators.
Of course, all of this is speculation for now. Universal hasn't officially announced the Jurassic World Liberation title, revealed the story, or confirmed which characters might return.
Still, the possible title opens the door to an interesting story. After seven movies filled with dinosaur escapes, corporate greed, genetic experimentation, and disastrous attempts to control nature, perhaps it's time for the dinosaurs to have someone on their side.
A Jurassic World adventure about rescuing dinosaurs from the people exploiting them could be a fun change of pace, especially if it brings together characters from across the franchise.