It’s been over ten years now since Steven Spielberg first announced plans for a fourth instalment in the Jurassic Park franchise, but despite the painfully slow progress, the last twelve months has brought renewed hope that Jurassic Park IV may finally be inching towards becoming a reality. In October 2011, Spielberg (who is set to act as producer on the fourth movie) revealed that Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, Thor) was busy working on a script, while the screenwriting team of Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) were brought in earlier this year to work on the project.
Back in July, Frank Marshall stated that we should expect to see Jurassic Park IV “within two years”, although that certainly seems ambitious considering the latest comments from Marshall’s wife and fellow producer Kathleen Kennedy, who updated the status of JPIV during an interview with ComingSoon to promote the Blu-ray release of Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extraterrestrial:
“Writing, writing, writing… It’s really hard to keep these things going when there’s an expectation and a desire by the public and the audience to keep certain franchises going. As filmmakers, we often sit there going, ‘Okay. We have to answer the question, ‘Why do another one?” If you can’t answer that question, you shouldn’t be doing it. It’s tough. We’re trying to come up with a story that makes sense and isn’t going to disappoint people and is, hopefully, going to get people excited and reinvigorate the franchise. We’ve got to start with a script and the story.”
Be sure to check out the full interview, during which Kennedy also discusses Spielberg’s upcoming biopic Lincoln, as well as her planned big screen adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl tale The B.F.G.
Originally published September 29, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
