Universal Pictures has debuted an all‑new featurette for its upcoming summer tent‑pole Jurassic World: Rebirth, and the behind‑the‑scenes reel delivers several nuggets destined to thrill franchise faithful. Beyond sprinkling in fresh footage of Isla Nublar’s newest prehistoric residents, the package highlights the ways this sequel purposefully loops back to Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic more directly than any installment since. Chief among those connective tissues is the return of screenwriter David Koepp, who penned both Jurassic Park and its first follow‑up, The Lost World: Jurassic Park. His involvement alone signals a narrative course correction toward the franchise’s original DNA—leaner suspense, tactile animatronics, and an undercurrent of awe that made audiences believe in living dinosaurs three decades ago.
The featurette opens with sweeping aerial shots of Isla Nublar, instantly recognizable thanks to the towering visitor‑center façade and surrounding jungle canopy. Director Gareth Edwards, speaking from a rain‑soaked set, explains that returning to the island was paramount if Rebirth was going to reclaim the spirit of discovery that launched the series. “The goal,” Edwards says, “was to respect everything fans cherish about the first film while pushing the danger further than we ever could in 1993.” Quick montage cuts reveal fresh horrors: a pack of Atrociraptors corralling tourists in a collapsed monorail tunnel, a Dilophosaurus stalking through smoke with its frill half‑unfurled, and an enormous, long‑snouted Suchomimus lunging from a mangrove swamp.
The centerpiece, however, is the long‑rumored riverboat sequence that Koepp himself introduces. “When we made the first movie,” Koepp recalls, “one set piece never left my imagination: the idea of a T‑Rex pursuing people down a jungle river. It was simply impossible to execute with the technology of the early ’90s. With today’s advances in digital compositing and animatronics, we can finally stage it for real.” The featurette shows pre‑vis animatics of a creaky tour vessel drifting beneath gnarled branches as ripples churn in the water behind it—a telltale sign that the Rex is wading in pursuit. Crew members describe the logistical nightmare of mounting gimbal rigs onto a practical riverboat, coordinating massive hydraulic tail sweeps to flood the deck, and stitching live‑action splashes into CG water simulations. According to producer Frank Marshall, the sequence required six months of planning and is “the single most complex scene the franchise has attempted.”
Cast commentary underscores the emotional stakes. Lead actor Scarlett Johansson, who plays paleo‑veterinarian Zora Bennett, says the scene is “equal parts Jaws dread and Jurassic Park wonder.” Co‑star Mahershala Ali adds that witnessing the full‑scale T‑Rex animatronic rising from the riverbank “was like time‑traveling back to that first movie, only now all the dials are cranked up to eleven.” Composer Michael Giacchino’s score swells beneath the interviews, teasing a fresh orchestral motif layered over John Williams’ iconic two‑note Rex fanfare.
The featurette closes with Edwards promising that Jurassic World: Rebirth will reward longtime fans while surprising newcomers. As the screen fades to black, a single roar echoes, matched by the hashtag #TheRebirthBegins. With Koepp’s script weaving legacy callbacks and Edwards’ eye for visceral spectacle, Universal is positioning the film as both homage and high‑octane reinvention—proof that even after thirty years, there’s still uncharted territory on Isla Nublar’s perilous rivers.
The cast features Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation; Marriage Story; Black Widow), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight; Green Book; True Detective), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton; Fellow Travelers; Crashing), Rupert Friend (Homeland; Anatomy of a Scandal; Asteroid City), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer; The Magnificent Seven; 6 Underground), Luna Blaise (Manifest; Fresh Off the Boat; Memoria), David Iacono (The Summer I Turned Pretty; The Flight Attendant; City on a Hill), Audrina Miranda (The Big Door Prize; The Legend of Tayos; Antigone), Philippine Velge (Station Eleven; Summer of 85; Foreign Bodies), Bechir Sylvain (Claws; Black Summer; Grown-ish), and Ed Skrein (Deadpool; Midway; Alita: Battle Angel).
Gareth Edwards (The Creator; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Godzilla) helmed the feature, with a screenplay from original Jurassic Park scribe David Koepp (Spider-Man; War of the Worlds; Mission: Impossible).
Check out the new posters below - we'll update if they get officially released!
Jurassic World Rebirth roars into theaters July 2!
A new era is born. This summer, three years after the Jurassic World trilogy concluded with each film surpassing $1 billion at the global box office, the enduring Jurassic series evolves in an ingenious new direction with Jurassic World Rebirth.
Anchored by iconic action superstar Scarlett Johansson, Emmy and SAG nominee Jonathan Bailey and two-time Oscar® winner Mahershala Ali, this action-packed new chapter sees an extraction team race to the most dangerous place on Earth, an island research facility for the original Jurassic Park, inhabited by the worst of the worst that were left behind.
Also starring acclaimed international stars Rupert Friend and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, the film is directed by dynamic visualist Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) from a script by original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp.
Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air within that tropical biosphere hold, in their DNA, the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.
Academy Award® nominee Johansson plays skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett, contracted to lead a skilled team on a top-secret mission to secure the genetic material. When Zora’s operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos, they all find themselves stranded on a forbidden island that had once housed an undisclosed research facility for Jurassic Park. There, in a terrain populated by dinosaurs of vastly different species, they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that has been hidden from the world for decades.