After Finding Out Jurassic World Rebirth Will Feature An Unused Jurassic Park Book Sequence, I Have 6 Guesses
Though I wasn’t the biggest fan of the last few films set in the Jurassic Park universe, I am pretty pumped up for Gareth Evans’ Jurassic World Rebirth, which is set to hit the 2025 movie schedule this summer. The upcoming sci-fi film, which sounds like a throwback to the early days of the franchise, has been one of my most anticipated movies for a while now, and that was before I heard what returning screenwriter David Koepp has said about the dinosaur adventure using an unused sequence from the Jurassic Park novel.
Koepp, who co-wrote the 1993-defining megahit with the late Michael Crichton — as well as The Lost World: Jurassic Park four years later — hasn’t revealed which scene will be used in Rebirth, but I have a handful of guesses for what it might be. That said, here are six sequences I would love to see go from the book to the silver screen…
The T-Rex River Chase
There are a lot of differences between the novel and movie when it comes to Jurassic Park, and one of the biggest omissions from Steven Spielberg’s iconic ‘90s sci-fi film is the river raft sequence. This exhilarating series of events follows Dr. Grant, as well as Tim and Lexi (whose ages are flipped in the original novel) as they try to return to the Visitor Center by using the park’s vast river system.
What starts out as a lazy float along the river quickly turns into one of the most intense, terrifying, and action-packed parts of Michael Crichton’s book and leads to the trio being chased by the T-Rex from earlier in the story, only this time, it’s swimming after them. I’m not sure why it didn’t make the cut in the original film, but maybe it’ll find a way in this time around. But it isn’t the only scene…
The Poisoned Eggs Sequence
Another one of my favorite parts of the Jurassic Park book is the scene where Dr. Grant kills a trio of raptors with the help of syringes filled with poison, unhatched eggs, and some quick thinking. Grant remembers that dinosaurs like the raptors would snatch eggs for food, so he poisons some of the eggs and rolls them towards the pack, knowing they can’t resist an easy meal.
While the plan is somewhat successful for a couple of the raptors, Grant has to get in close for the final dinosaur and sticks the syringe directly into its tail, which results in the apex predator suffering a long and painful death. Reading the book way back when, this scene was terrifying, exhilarating, and fascinating. I don’t know how it’d work into the Jurassic World Rebirth story, but a scene with poisoned eggs would be so much fun to watch.
The Aviary Sequence
I know, I know, the aviary sequence was kind of used in Jurassic Park III, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see a more faithful adaptation of the iconic scene find its way into Jurassic World Rebirth. While on their journey back to the more developed portions of the park in Crichton’s novel, Dr. Grant and the kids go through the aviary where they encounter a flock of cearadactylus.
Everything about this sequence is great and could work really well in the new movie. The way John Arnold and John Hammond build the tension by talking about the dangers of the area, the first sight of flying dinosaurs, and Lexi being attacked before Dr. Grant saves the day are some of my most vivid memories from reading the book, and something that could work really well if fully realized.
The Raptor Nest
Another great scene from the Jurassic Park book that was largely cut out of the original movie was the moment when Dr. Grant goes into the raptor nest to see if the dinosaurs were in fact reproducing without the help of the InGen scientists. Yeah, there was a reference to it in the movie when Grant finds the hatched eggs in the park, but this book sequence is the stuff of nightmares.
Crawling into a vast cavern, Grant and other survivors find raptors of all ages and sizes in various breeding sites, proving the animals were reproducing, making the official count of the number of raptors on the island (and beyond) painfully inaccurate. It’s one of the most horrifying and unsettling scenes from the book, and something that could be great in the next film, especially with the Rebirth subtitle.
Raptors On The Boat
The whole “dinos on a boat” premise showed up in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, but we could really use a proper callback to the scene in the Jurassic Park novel where young raptors are spotted escaping the island on a boat headed to the mainland. Though the situation is largely taken care of, the description of the silhouetted dinosaurs standing atop the deck is something that has long left me fascinated and intrigued.
Yeah, it’s a short scene, but if it was used in Jurassic World Rebirth, with its story about dinosaurs living in remote tropical regions around the world, it could explain how the creatures got from place to place.
Compys In The Crib
I’m sure we would have seen a version of this scene if James Cameron’s Jurassic Park had been made (we had to settle for a toned-down take in The Lost World), but it would be wild to see Gareth Evans recreate the nursery sequence involving a pack of compsognathus (aka the compys, the little green carnivorous dinosaurs) from the opening of the book. Do I think it’s going to happen? No, not really. But it would be one hell of a way to kick off the movie.
For those who haven’t read the book, the scene involves a woman walking into a nursery to find a pack of small yet lethal dinosaurs eating a newborn, and it’s described in great detail. An unsettling and horrifying way of setting the tone for the book (seriously, there’s so much gore), this is one of the scenes that’s been burned into my memory for years.
I’m all but certain that the river raft scene will be the long-lost Jurassic Park sequence that will show up in Jurassic World Rebirth, but I’ll just have to wait and see when the highly-anticipated summer blockbuster opens in theater on July 2nd.
