While there is no doubt that the most recent Jurassic Park films have done well at the box-office, they’ve fared less well with critics and the general consensus was that the Jurassic World: Lost Kingdom was a wholly uneven and sometimes even silly venture. That film left dinosaurs escaping into the wilds, including human habitats and setting up something of a new status-quo with mankind having to accept that the prehistoric beasts were back and couldn’t be fully contained any more.
None of the original film’s sequels quite live-up to the landmark 1993 outing that brought in a new standard of VFX but it’s perhaps telling that a new ‘Jurassic’ short film, entitled Battle at Big Rock, running at less than nine minutes, plays to the franchise’s strengths is arguably tighter and more tense than many of the other feature-length entries. The short is directed by Colin Trevorrow and written by Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael. It takes place one year after the events of the last and follows a family of four whose camping trip in film in the Big Rock National Park, is interrupted by a dangerous encounter with these wild animals. It stars André Holland (Castle Rock, American Horror Story), Natalie Martinez (The Crossing, The I-Land), newcomer Melody Hurd and Pierson Salvador (NOS482).
There had been talk about the ‘Big Rock‘ project for some time, with rumours of new animatronics being filmed and the result would appear as an ‘extra’ before the recent Hobbs and Shaw theatrical release. There were eve some Jurassic World toys from Mattel on sale back in May which noted their new dinosaurs could be seen in the trailer… though nothing had yet appeared. Trevorrow confirmed a few days ago that the release of the short was now imminent.
Trevorrow ‘left’ the Star Wars franchise – he was due to direct the ninth main film, that would eventually become The Rise of Skywalker but was unceremoniously booted – and though a third full Jurassic World film has been touted, with Trevorrow and Carmichael both involved (Trevorrow has written both the Jurassic World movies and directed Fallen Kingdom) there’s no date set for that to happen. In that sense, this feels as if it’s a prehistoric pallette-cleanser or even a tease for something more concrete.
