As a way to get Jurassic Park fans excited for the release of Jurassic World: Dominion, Universal Studios dropped a teaser about the sequel, solidifying the concept suggested at the end of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom that dinosaurs now existed alongside of us, cohabitating… for better and for worse. Titled “The Prologue,” this five-minute clip arrived on YouTube and in IMAX theaters back in November 2021, and traced the evolution of the dinosaurs from a time when these creatures roamed our planet, to the modern day, when they terrified crowds at a drive-in movie theater. It also suggested that our government might have come up with new organizations to hunt and track dinosaurs, which seems necessary in this brave new world.
Doing press for the new film Jurassic World: Dominion, director Colin Trevorrow appeared in CinemaBlend’s official ReelBlend podcast and spoke about the importance of that scene. Basically, from what he tells us, that was supposed to be the opening sequence of his sequel… until it wasn’t. Trevorrow explained:
That is the beginning of the film. That is the first five minutes. And it always was, up until we reached a point, I would say a year ago, when it started to become clear that the first act was a long first act. Because we were introducing two parallel storylines at the same time that all needed the beats of a first act within them. It was kind of heartbreaking, to be honest. To me, it is the first five minutes of the movie. And someday, I know people will have the opportunity to see it that way.
Instead, once it was determined that Jurassic World: Dominion no longer would use the drive-in movie theater scene as its opening, Trevorrow and Universal made the decision to release it online, as well as in theaters attached to select prints, so that fans at least would be able to appreciate it in some format. As Trevorrow elaborated on ReelBlend, this sequence begins with a sunrise, and the current movie ends on a sunset, creating bookends for the feature. Here, you can watch “The Prologue” below, as it is included on YouTube:
You get the impression, from our conversation with Colin Trevorrow, that he’s still not thrilled to have had to cut the sequence, and is excited about restoring it in the future. Also, as he is quick to point out:
It's interesting to see that the imagery from that sequence is used so much in the marketing. And I'm not sure if I've seen a lot of that, where the poster – the image on the poster – that situation's not in the movie.
That didn’t stop the movie from overtaking Top Gun: Maverick at the box office and posting a massive figure that suggests there’s still a future in dinosaur blockbusters. Trevorrow has been calling Jurassic World: Dominion the conclusion to the six-part saga, but some on our staff think DeWanda Wise should continue the story in a spinoff picture, and the actress herself has contemplated those rumors. They could, at the very least, ease the sting of having lost out on a major role in Captain Marvel. There will be more work to come!
If you already caught Jurassic World: Dominion, then watch our full conversation with Colin Trevorrow on the ReelBlend podcast:
And then scan our list of Upcoming 2022 movies to see what else is arriving in theaters for the rest of the year.
