Here’s some good news for the purists out there: Fallen Kingdom, Universal’s summer tentpole from director Juan Antonio Bayona, features more practical dinosaurs than any other Jurassic Park sequel before it. Hell, there’s even the promise of a new, life-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex animatronic built specifically for the 2018 follow-up.
Word comes by way of /Film, who caught up with seasoned producers Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley to discuss all things Jurassic World. The former is no stranger to the franchise, having helped produced Colin Trevorrow’s franchise reset three years ago.
But this time around, things are a little different. Not unlike The Lost World before it, Fallen Kingdom flips the tables to unleash those resurrected dinos upon modern civilization – far from the confines of Isla Nubular, which is now little more than a pile of volcanic ash and rubble.
This extended encounter between human and dino called for much more practical effects, too, as Marshall told /Film:
I think since Jurassic Park we’ve got more animatronics than any of the other movies. Except for Jurassic Park. The process of the animatronics is so advanced now from what it used to be. What they’re able to do now is fantastic. And it’s so much faster to see what you’re gonna have. So that made it really cool.
He also went on to clarify that, yes, Fallen Kingdom puts dinosaurs and humans into close contact for “a longer period of time than we’ve ever been,” which presumably has something to do with the Indoraptor being let loose on American soil. Hold on to your butts.
Angled as the second instalment in a bona fide trilogy, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is expected to trot into theaters on June 22nd, before Universal and Colin Trevorrow begin plotting the third and final chapter.