It’s no secret that Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” was the formative film of my childhood, so I’ve never taken its sequels lightly. “The Lost World” is a decidedly mixed bag that still holds a special place in my heart (oh, nostalgia!), while “Jurassic Park III” has thrills to spare but falls short in nearly every other category. The long-awaited fourth entry into the series is set for June 14, 2014, 21 years and 3 days after the original roared into theaters. After numerous false starts, the final iteration of the screenplay has been penned by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who wrote the impressive but depressing “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.”

Now we have word from Deadline Hollywood that Colin Trevorrow has been hired to direct. He directed last year’s finely tuned “Safety Not Guaranteed” (read my review here) and his indie sensibilities should bode well for JP IV’s character work. It’s fair to wonder if he’ll be entirely outside his comfort zone, but Marc Webb made a fairly smooth transition last year from “(500) Days Of Summer” to “The Amazing Spider-Man.”

I think it’s an inspired choice and should benefit both Universal and Trevorrow in the long run. The series’ marriage of CGI and animatronics has already been well-established, so an inexperienced director shouldn’t be a roadblock to a stellar final product. Now we wait for casting announcements. Will we see Sam Neill don the straw fedora once again? How about Jeff Goldblum’s return? Laura Dern? Joseph Mazzello? Or will we see an all-new cast? Production will have to kick into high gear shortly to make a 2014 release date.

-J. Olson

Source: Deadline Hollywood