Background David Koepp co-wrote the original film,
Jurassic Park (1993); he shared screenplay credit with
Michael Crichton, who authored the novels
Jurassic Park (1990) and
The Lost World (1995). Koepp returned as sole writer on the latter's film adaptation
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997).
Steven Spielberg directed both films and would return as an executive producer for future installments in the
Jurassic Park franchise. Koepp initially turned down the chance to write another film, believing he had nothing left to contribute to the series. He was still consulted for subsequent films and eventually did uncredited script work on
Jurassic World Dominion (2022).
Colin Trevorrow spent nine years working on the
Jurassic World trilogy as a director and co-writer, and said he would likely not return for another film, except in a possible advisory role. He ultimately had no involvement with
Jurassic World Rebirth.
Development Development on
Jurassic World Rebirth began shortly after the release of
Dominion, with an early story idea from Spielberg that features heavily in the final film. Spielberg had brought his idea to Koepp and asked him about writing a new film in the series, which led to an exchange of other ideas. seeking to revive the tone of the original
Jurassic Park trilogy, particularly the first film. Koepp also said, "We decided early on that, because the first and second trilogies have concluded their stories, let's not restrict ourselves in any way – let's have all-new characters in an all-new location." He felt that this idea had been thoroughly explored, furthermore saying, "Once that happened, you can go anywhere in the world and you can have as many crazy dinosaur situations as you want. I was more limited. I find limitations freeing. [...]. I think we actually had an easier time than the three
Jurassic World movies because they got so big and that becomes hard to work with." Koepp and Spielberg devised a story involving a secret island facility, used for dinosaur research and development, then had to determine why characters would visit such a place. According to Koepp: "While doing research, I found that certain dinosaurs, larger ones in particular, did have extraordinarily long lifespans and the reason was they had remarkably low incidences of heart disease. That led to the idea that a drug could be synthesized from their DNA, because the greatest killer of humans is heart disease." The idea of mutant dinosaurs was inspired by the hybridized dinosaurs in earlier
Jurassic World films; Koepp said that he and Spielberg realized the hybrids "can't all have gone well. This is genetic experimentation. Things are not going to work out sometimes."
Rebirth includes a sequence from the first novel that was cut from its film adaptation, in which characters in a raft must escape from a
Tyrannosaurus rex. A monologue by the character Henry Loomis was also pulled from the novel, and additionally includes an un-used line of dialogue that Koepp wrote for the character
Ian Malcolm in an early draft of
Jurassic Park. Aside from the inclusion of dinosaurs, Koepp had no story requirements to follow in writing the script, although he did compile a list of rules for himself. These included that the film being based on accurate
science, that it would not
retcon any events from the previous films, and that humorous dialogue be included. He also sought to depict the non-mutant dinosaurs as animals rather than monsters, By September 2023, Koepp had begun writing the screenplay in earnest, turning in a draft three months later.
Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, producers of the
Jurassic World trilogy, would return for
Rebirth. Although another installment was expected at some point, Marshall and Crowley were unaware that Spielberg was already working on the project until the first draft was turned in. With a mid-2025 release date being targeted, the producers were surprised by the limited amount of production time, but they soon determined it to be adequate. with several drafts already written by Koepp. The position was reportedly described as being "more shooter than
auteur", as the producers sought to have more creative control than
Jurassic World Dominion,
Edgar Wright also turned down the offer to direct the film in favor to direct his dream project
The Running Man (2025) instead.
Gareth Edwards was announced as director later that month, He met with Marshall and subsequently Spielberg to discuss the project and possible changes, and was soon hired as director. Edwards had less than a year and a half to get the film finished, a process that he said would normally take two and a half years. Early on, he suggested delaying the film's release, but this idea was immediately rejected. He credited Koepp's script for the quick turnaround: "Everybody was pointing at that going, 'Go make that; that's what we want.' And so it was just quite a relatively smooth ride". Edwards aimed to follow Koepp's script by maintaining its balance of humor and horror elements, the latter being emphasized more so than in previous
Jurassic World films. Koepp encouraged Edwards to make suggestions for improving the script. A scene involving a
Quetzalcoatlus nest was among those modified by Edwards; originally written to take place on a cliff, he changed the setting to an abandoned
ancient temple. He ultimately found the film's shortened production time to be beneficial: "If you have too much time, you procrastinate, you try things that don't work".
Casting Jurassic World Rebirth is the first film in the series to not include any returning actors from previous installments. Casting was underway in March 2024,
Scarlett Johansson was already a fan of the franchise and hoped to join it for more than a decade. While
Rebirth was in development, she arranged a meeting with Spielberg and pitched the idea of joining the cast in some capacity. Edwards, after signing on as director, learned of Johansson's interest and immediately cast her as Zora. She worked with Koepp to further develop her character. at the suggestion of Universal executives who were impressed with his performance in the 2024 film
Wicked. Edwards cast
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo after seeing him in an episode of the television series
The Lincoln Lawyer. Likewise, he cast
Rupert Friend after being impressed by a performance he gave in an episode of
Homeland. Friend worked with Koepp to make his character more dimensional. Powell was reportedly in talks to play Dr. Henry Loomis but declined the role, saying "There's somebody better that's gonna breathe more life into this, or can do a better job than I can. And you just have to be realistic about that. Sometimes you put yourself out of a job, but that's okay."
Filming John Mathieson served as the cinematographer. and shot the project using
35mm film, his first time doing so, to harken back to the look of the first film. The production used Panaflex Millennium XL2 cameras and vintage C- and E-Series
anamorphic lenses from
Panavision. Additional equipment included an
ARRI 235 camera for handheld photography, and a range of
Angénieux and Elite zoom lenses. The E-Series lenses were favored for their cleaner rendering, and scenes were framed in the 2.40:1 aspect ratio. James Clyne,
production designer for
The Creator, would join Edwards again for
Jurassic World Rebirth.
Principal photography began in Thailand on June 13, 2024, under the
working title Saga, with filming lasting a month in the country. Locations included
Khao Phanom Bencha National Park in
Krabi,
Ko Kradan at
Hat Chao Mai National Park in
Trang, and
Ao Phang Nga National Park in
Phang Nga. Sunset Beach on Ko Kradan was used for the scene in which Duncan's boat crashes on Île Saint-Hubert. Shooting in Thailand was made difficult by the presence of venomous water snakes and insects. The use of film also presented a downside, as the dailies had to be shipped to England for processing. According to executive producer Denis Stewart, "It was five days of wondering if that film was going to get there okay, wondering if we could move on and strike the set and let an actor leave or if we were going to need to reshoot a scene or let it go. But not a single problem arose." Filming there included boat attack sequences involving the
Mosasaurus. Edwards acknowledged that filming the ocean sequences was "very difficult". Johansson said, "There was no escape from the sun. It was just baking every day. And you're on this rig, 30 feet [9 meters] in the air or whatever it is, and it's moving up and down and sideways, and there's all this water being shot out of these cannons towards you. It was brutal." filming moved to
London and
Sky Studios Elstree in the
United Kingdom. The InGen facility, including research rooms and a network of tunnels, was constructed on three sound stages at Sky Studios. An artificial jungle, the gas station mini mart, and the interiors of Duncan's boat and the ancient temple were among other sets constructed at Sky Studios. A museum scene was shot at the
Old Royal Naval College in
Greenwich, London. The start of the
T. rex river chase was filmed at a flooded quarry in Thailand, On-set rocks and CGI landscaping would be used for the latter location. Ali's character, Duncan, was originally written to have been killed by the
Distortus rex. Once Ali was cast, Universal believed that due to his star status, the character should live. Edwards and Ali successfully pushed for Duncan to die as written, but were later told by Universal to film an additional scene while in Thailand to show that he survived, in the event that such an outcome should be chosen. Edwards ultimately decided to add this additional footage into the final film. Koepp was on set in London during the final weeks of filming, Filming
wrapped on September 27, 2024, although
pick-up shots were made in
New York City three weeks later.
Creatures on screen Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) returned from previous installments to handle the CGI for dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals featured in the film. Because of its limited pre-production period, the
Jurassic World Rebirth crew did not have time to make heavy usage of
animatronics, marking a departure from the film's two predecessors. However, on-set materials were still used to aid the actors. Edwards chose not to include
feathered dinosaurs because he thought they "looked like big chickens and weren't all that scary," according to ILM's visual effects supervisor
David Vickery. The design of the
Distortus rex was inspired by the
xenomorphs in the
Alien franchise and the
rancors in the
Star Wars franchise. With its bulbous head, Vickery stated, To establish the film's
Tyrannosaurus as a different individual than the ones depicted in the previous installments, the dinosaur was redesigned to draw influence from the 1969 film
The Valley of Gwangi. For
Rebirth, the
Spinosaurus was redesigned to reflect newer research which determined the animal to be primarily
semiaquatic. Like all previous installments, the film features the return of
Velociraptor, albeit in a brief scene establishing the
Mutadons as a deadlier threat.
Velociraptor received a new design inspired by the raptors in
Jurassic Park III. The production used three on-set animatronics, each measuring 18 inches in length and operated remotely by a team of puppeteers. The primary animatronic had numerous
motors to simulate movements such as breathing, blinking, and tail wagging. This was used for close interactions with the cast, while another animatronic was used in scenes where characters pick the creature up, and a third was used for lighting reference. Because of their abundant use of
3D-printed parts, these puppets weighed less than typical animatronics. Three other scenes are absent from the final theatrical cut, two of which Edwards was fine with removing. The third consisted of additional material for the gas station sequence; he described it as "a little bit more like being hunted. The tension of something coming." It was cut because it slowed down the film's
third act, which was written to be fast-paced. While in post-production, Edwards briefly considered the idea of having a
T. rex show up in the ending to battle the
Distortus rex and inadvertently save the humans. Other filmmakers on the project rejected this idea for lack of originality, noting that previous installments in the series already ended with a dinosaur battle. The film already had numerous
Easter eggs referencing the original
Jurassic Park. Upon seeing an early cut of
Rebirth, Spielberg and Koepp requested that these references be removed entirely, although Edwards was ultimately allowed to keep most of them. Among the exceptions was
Mr. DNA, an animated character in the original film, who was cut from an exposition scene in
Rebirth. By March 2025, Edwards was working seven days a week with ILM and film editor
Jabez Olssen to have the project finished in time for its release.
Music Jurassic World Rebirth was scored by
Alexandre Desplat, reuniting with Edwards after
Godzilla and further replacing
Michael Giacchino, who composed the previous installments in the
Jurassic World series. Recorded at the
Abbey Road Studios in London, with a 105-piece orchestra and a 60-piece choir, the score incorporates previous musical themes by
John Williams, who composed the scores for the first two
Jurassic Park films. The soundtrack was released by
Back Lot Music on July 2, 2025, simultaneous with the film. == Marketing ==