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Jurassic World 4 will most likely continue the story of the previous Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies, but in doing so it needs to fix five big franchise problems. While the original Jurassic Park is universally beloved, the rest of the films have been met with varying degrees of mixed reception, with Jurassic World Dominion closing out the second trilogy as one of the worst-reviewed entries. Despite this, the franchise has been a massive cash cow, with Jurassic World Dominion making over $1 billion, meaning that Jurassic World 4 is pretty much inevitable.
Jurassic World Dominion advertised itself as the end of the Jurassic franchise, with the film wrapping up almost all of the reboot trilogy’s story threads. The ending of Jurassic World Dominionis pretty conclusive, with the human characters having their stories wrapped up and dinosaurs being free to roam the Earth. However, this opens the doors for future Jurassic World movies to carry on these setups, with even director Colin Trevorrow hinting that there could be more films in the future. While this isn’t inherently a bad thing, Jurassic World 4 seriously needs to fix some overarching Jurassic Park problems before continuing on.
5 Jurassic World 4 Needs A Unique Main Character
Chris Pratt as Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire Dearing in Jurassic World Dominion
The biggest change Jurassic World 4 needs to make is that it needs a unique main character. While the dinosaurs are the spectacle of the Jurassic Park movies, the humans are the heart, with a strong human story being essential to a good Jurassic Park film. Despite this, the protagonists of the franchise have really gone downhill, with Jurassic World Dominion’s Claire and Owen being at an all-time low. A big factor in this is that these characters are incredibly repetitive. Almost every Jurassic Park and Jurassic World protagonist has been some sort of dinosaur expert or scientist, and Jurassic World 4 really needs a breath of fresh air.
With how big the world of Jurassic Park has gotten, it shouldn’t be that hard to find a unique main character for Jurassic World 4. Now that dinosaurs freely roam the Earth, an interesting story can be told that involves anyone, anywhere. The world-building of Jurassic World Dominion allows for an interesting hero in the next movie, with a good Owen replacement being Kayla Watts. Kayla was introduced in Jurassic World Dominion, and since she’s a pilot and dinosaur smuggler, her story could be something the franchise hasn’t explored before. There is so much potential for Jurassic World protagonists, so the next movie shouldn’t rely on old archetypes.
4 Jurassic World 4 Can’t Follow The Jurassic Story Formula
Jurassic Park T-Rex
Jurassic Park movies have always had a very clear formula, one that Jurassic World 4 can’t follow anymore after Jurassic World Dominion. Throughout the first two trilogies, each Jurassic Park story has been about a group of characters being trapped in a secluded area with escaped dinosaurs. Whether the dinosaurs escape in a theme park, on an island, or in a mansion, each movie has stuck to this basic plot while changing out the specific details. This formula has gotten incredibly repetitive, but Jurassic World Dominion means that future movies can’t rely on this story anymore.
Now that dinosaurs can be found everywhere, there isn’t really a way for the monsters to break out anymore. The world of the Jurassic Park franchise has developed ways to control dinosaurs, such as governmental branches tasked with quickly taking down rogue reptilians. Because of this, it is impossible to follow the old formula, as any problem would be solved pretty easily. Instead of being theme park attractions, dinosaurs are now like any other animal, meaning that Jurassic World 4 will finally have to evolve the franchise’s story template. This move is exciting, but it could also be really risky if poorly executed.
3 Jurassic World 4 Needs To Be A Smaller Scale
Jurassic Dominion Gigantosaurus
Another big problem that Jurassic World 4 has to fix is the series’ sense of scale. The Jurassic World movies keep trying to one-up themselves by introducing bigger dinosaurs and more evil corporations, but this pattern is both hurting the new movies as well as the old ones. Jurassic Park featured the T-Rex, then Jurassic World tried to raise the stakes by introducing the Indominus Rex, with Jurassic World Dominion raising the stakes again by introducing the Giganotosaurus. This takes the threat of each film so high that it breaks the audience’s suspension of disbelief, with the goofy names only contributing to the loss of tension.
This also retroactively hurts the original Jurassic Park movies, as the T-rex now seems small-scale compared to the Indominus Rex and the Giganotosaurus. Bigger is not always better, and Jurassic World 4 needs to recognize this. Jurassic World should tell a smaller, more personal story, as its predecessors have already overly relied on mindless big-budget action. A personal story about a single dinosaur could be exactly what the franchise needs, and there are endless possibilities for new plots. No matter how it does it, Jurassic World 4 seriously needs to readjust the scale of the series.
2 Jurassic World 4 Should Stay Away From High-Concept Sci-Fi
Alan, Maisie, and Owen in Jurassic World Dominion
Although bringing back dinosaurs is a sci-fi storyline, Jurassic World 4 needs to stay away from anything more sci-fi than that. Jurassic World made a huge mistake with its sci-fi, with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom introducing human clones. A storyline like this shouldn’t be anywhere near the Jurassic Park franchise, as it only takes away from the already well-established appeal: the dinosaurs. Bringing in new elements like clones or soldier dinosaurs is completely unnecessary, and Jurassic World 4 needs to respond to these mistakes by toning down the franchise’s exploration of high-concept sci-fi.
1 Jurassic World 4 Can’t Be About A Park
jurassic world gates
Another big problem that Jurassic World 4 has to negotiate is that the sequel can’t be about a park. Jurassic Park fully explored the concept of a dinosaur theme park, and the first entry in the Jurassic World reboot trilogy did this storyline again. Although the franchise’s title is named after a dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World 4 should stay away from repeating this plot. After multiple park-based movies, there is nothing new that can be done with a third Jurassic Park. Given how many exciting potential avenues the ending of Jurassic World Dominion sets up, Jurassic World 4 needs to stay away from retreating the theme park idea again.
