Writing, development, pre-production, casting, filming, editing, visual effects, scoring, sound, and more. The process of making a movie, especially a big, expensive movie, is a long one. According to director Gareth Edwards, who has made his share of big movies like Rogue One and Godzilla, normally it would take two and a half years from when he, the director, would be hired until the film is released in theaters. But, when it comes to Jurassic World Rebirth, the process was anything but normal.
Edwards was hired onto the film in February 2024, and now, in July 2025, the film is set for release. It’s an insane, superhuman timeline for a film of this size, one that Edwards both tried to fight against but ultimately had to embrace. “I knew basically the July 4th weekend is what they were gunning for,” Edwards told io9 over video chat. “And I thought, ‘That’s just something they say,’ and then they’ll push it. And at the first meeting, I put my hand up and they’re like, ‘Gareth at the back.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, can we push the release date?’ And they’re like, ‘No, next question.’ We just weren’t allowed to. We weren’t even allowed to consider it.”
So, that meant Edwards would have to make a Jurassic Park movie in, basically, a little over a year. “My editor, Jabez (Olssen), put a quote on the front door of the edit suite,” Edwards continued. “And it was from Leonard Bernstein, and it just said, ‘Art is when you have a plan and not quite enough time.’ And it felt like a weird thing was happening where you couldn’t second-guess yourself, and nor could anyone else. You had to go with your first instincts every time.”
After being hired in February, shooting began in June, and by December, they had a rough cut. “Essentially, when we did the director’s cut and we screened that at Universal, you look at the timeline ahead of us and it was like, ‘We’ve only got two weeks to do notes.’ So there’s not much anyone can really say,” Edwards said. “And they did give us this feedback, and we did it, and everyone was happy. And that was kind of the movie. It was such a weirdly straightforward process. And I think the reason for that is because it began with the screenplay David Koepp, who wrote the original Jurassic Park, had written. Everybody was pointing at that going, ‘Go make that; that’s what we want.’ And so it was just quite a relatively smooth ride, to be honest.”
Did the smooth ride pay off, though? We think the film is fun, but flawed, and other critics seem to agree, with it currently sitting at 58% on Rotten Tomatoes as of publication. Sounds like you’ll have to see for yourself. Jurassic World Rebirth opens July 2.
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