Thanks to his involvement in fantasy adaptation A Monster Calls, Juan Antonio Bayona has spent a fair chunk of the film’s PR pizazz soliciting questions for 2018 sequel Jurassic World 2.
Just last week, for instance, the filmmaker reaffirmed that those early trilogy plans are still in place at Universal, with Bayona’s monstrous sequel poised to pick up the story strands left in place by Colin Trevorrow – he’ll soon be busy helming a little known sequel called Star Wars: Episode IX.
Indeed, early reports have claimed that J.A. Bayona’s follow-up will be monstrous in every sense of the word, after Spanish language magazine El Pais Seminal appeared to confirm that Jurassic World 2 will be tethered with a production budget of $260 million. That’s a significant bump up from the original’s $150 million, sparking online speculation that Universal are going all-in on a lavish, effects-heavy continuation. But don’t get carried away just yet; citing a reliable source, /Film reports that “the budget will not be anywhere near $260 million,” with the overriding verdict being that El Pais Seminal’s estimation was either totally off base or, in the more likely scenario, misinterpreted.
For now, it appears that six months out from a production start, the Jurassic World 2 budget remains undecided. As we alluded to before, it’s the second entry into a full-blown trilogy at Universal, after Bayona confirmed that “the whole Jurassic World is a trilogy that Colin Trevorrow has envisioned. We’re writing the second chapter, and it’s very interesting where he’s leading the story.”
Welcoming the return of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard sans high heels, Jurassic World 2 is booked in for theatrical release on June 22, 2018.
