Sure, the rides were a little bumpy, and there weren’t always dinosaurs visible in the dinosaur park, but Jurassic Park was always fun for the whole family. If you’re like me, Jurassic Park was the film that changed the game for you. A large scale spectacle done right with just the right amount of heart (No Tim!!!) and the right amount of completely forgivable cheesiness.
The sequels headed down the Slide of Diminished Returns (a ride at the park they shut down due to lawsuits), but maybe starting fresh is exactly what the franchise could use.
That might be what it’s getting, because The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Steven Spielberg has been having meetings with writer Mark Protosevich to toss around ideas on how to make Jurassic Park 4 a reality.
Trying to get a new story about dinosaurs in our time off the ground is a fantastic goal, but the baffling part of it is Protosevich. He’s been involved in middling and crappy movies in almost equal measure – I Am Legend, The Cell, Poseidon. It’s hard to understand the writer’s role in production these days, but his name is next to some un-good stuff. Granted, he also has a story credit on Thor, but the finished screenplay was done by a handful of other people. If his involvement in those other projects is to be taken at face value, then he’s shown a profound lack of understanding when it comes to genre. Why Spielberg would make him the go-to on this is a little bit confusing, although it may be the case that he’s a solid idea man who can then hand the baton to another writer for the finished product, and right now it’s all brainstorming anyway.
Plus, Spielberg was producing the Oldboy remake that Protosevich scripted for Will Smith, so maybe he turned out something impressive for that ultimately doomed project.
Regardless, opening the gates to Jurassic Park is a fun idea – one that would be made even greater by a new advancement by ILM (if one is going to come). They’ll just need to remember who well practical effects work and face the biggest hurdle in front of them: they’ll never get Sam Neill out of Montana.
Related Topics: Steven Spielberg
