Universal Pictures unlocked the cage on the first new footage from “Jurassic World: Dominion” on Wednesday night in Las Vegas.
Presenting at CinemaCon, the annual convention of movie theater owners, the studio offered up a behind-the-scenes look at the returning cast of the original “Jurassic Park” — Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Sattler, Sam Neill as Alan Grant, and Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm.
It was previously reported that the iconic trio would join franchise stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in the third installment of the Colin Trevorrow run of films. While undeniably Trevorrow’s baby, the footage kicked off with an unseen home movie reel starring the world’s creator and original director Steven Spielberg.
The grainy clip showed Spielberg in safari gear on the set of the 1993 film, explaining a film prop to a child actor. That prop, of course, was the cane used by Richard Attenborough. Topped with a globe of amber housing a petrified mosquito inside, that cane was the first building block in engineering dinosaurs for the fictional park.
While completed scenes featuring Dern, Neil and Goldblum were scarce, the actors appeared in interviews and discussed returning nearly 30 years after the first film captivated global audiences. Fans might be happy to know that Dern’s now-famous wardrobe color palette of pink and khaki gets a sophisticated update. Pratt and Howard were also seen in glimpses running once again from the prehistoric creatures.
Trevorrow said the new film poses the question, would humans be safe in a world also populated by dinosaurs?
“The answer is… no,” he said plainly.
Dichen Lachman, Daniella Pineda, BD Wong, Justice Smith, Omar Sy, DeWanda Wise and Campbell Scott co-star.
“Dominion” was the first tentpole film to successfully complete production during the pandemic, largely thanks to the miniature city built in England to house production and all those who served it. The effort was led by Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Donna Langley and her team, who also helped author the white paper protocols Hollywood uses to complete films in the COVID era.