Discover the fate of “Jurassic Park 4”, a canceled project and finally replaced by the “Jurassic World” saga.
When was this supposed to come out?
Several versions of Jurassic Park 4 were released starting in 2002, barely a year after the release of Jurassic Park III by Joe Johnston. A release for winter 2004 was once planned, but the film was never released. Or almost.
What did it say?
In 2002, a screenplay was commissioned from William Monahan (who would later write The Departed), which stated that it was based on an idea from Steven Spielberg himself: “You know that feeling when you first saw the original film, and you were so amazed, and you felt so carried away and hypnotized by the sheer majesty of it all? I think this project has the potential to get the same kind of reaction of all the concepts that were created for these films, this is probably my favorite.”
Universal Pictures
The idea is to offer something new, no longer taking place in the jungle universe. Movieweb will be about a Costa Rican island adventure filled with dinosaurs, with no certainty.
- The second (and crazy) version
Monahan left the project to work on Ridley Scott’s Kingdom Of Heaven, and John Sayles took his place and there was talk of Simon West and then Alex Proyas to direct the film. Within a few months, Monahan’s version was left aside, and this is what the scenario became:
John Hammond wants to send the mercenary Nick Harris to Isla Nublar to recover the dinosaur DNA found in the shaving cream bomb of the deceased Nedry in the first film of the saga.
Universal Pictures
John Hammond (Richard Attenborough)
Except that Harris is kidnapped by Baron Herman Von Drax, a Swiss businessman who wants to use the DNA of dinosaurs to create new beings, mixtures of dogs, humans and dinosaurs. Some concept art suggests what this could have been like.
Harris is hired to command these monsters via radio waves. Obviously, these formidable creatures turn against those who made them and decide to become independent. Among them are the “Raptormen”, beings with dubious aesthetics whose arms are weapons. A concept going even further than the Dino Riders cartoon, it had to be done!
Who should come back?
At the time of the promotion of the third opus, Sam Neill and Alessandro Nivola were interested in the idea of ​​returning in a sequel. Nivola even had a contract with an option for multiple films. Except that, as you will have understood, only John Hammond (played by Richard Attenborough) was to return in this new feature film.
The other characters could have been played by Jeremy Piven and Emmy Rossum.
Why didn’t it happen?
Whatever version of the scenarios proposed, they will all displease Steven Spielberg, executive producer on the film. This will be confirmed in April 2005 by Stan Winston, responsible for the special effects of the saga:
He felt that neither version managed to effectively balance the science and adventure parts. It’s a difficult compromise to strike, because too much science would make the film too talky, but too much adventure would make it seem hollow.
A few weeks later, John Sayles was fired and Universal turned to paleontologist Jack Horner, consultant on the Jurassic Park films, to start again from scratch. Then begins a long gestation, which in turn sees Louis Leterrier being considered, then Steven Spielberg, who enjoys teasing his potential return, before Joe Johnston returns by surprise to the race.
Universal Pictures
In 2008, Michael Crichton, author of the original work, died and the project was abandoned… until 2010. Two years passed before an announcement reached the fans: Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, writers of Planet of the Apes: Origins, is working on the film. Finally, on March 15, 2013, Colin Trevorrow was announced at the helm of the film and became Jurassic World.
Certain concepts from the aforementioned scripts (the training of dinosaurs, the creation of hybrids, the return of the shaving cream bomb) – served as the basis for the Jurassic World trilogy and the La Colo du Cretaceous series.