How is Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom planning to top its astonishingly lucrative predecessor? By saying goodbye to the past and setting up a chilling new future
Denzel Washington couldn’t believe the numbers. As the winter of 2015 rolled on, he would sit in the make-up trailer for Western reboot The Magnificent Seven, thumbing through the pages of the latest copy of Variety or Hollywood Reporter. Then, when his co-star Chris Pratt rocked up, Washington loudly informed him — and everyone else in the vicinity — of the pertinent stat: the new domestic gross of Pratt’s last film, Jurassic World.
“It was really awesome to get pumped up by Denzel like that,” remembers Pratt with a grin. “When the movie set the record for the biggest opening weekend ever, he was like, ‘There he is... The $200 million man!’ Then it was, ‘Whoa, $400 million!’ Finally it was, ‘There he is... The $700 million man!’ It was so crazy. It felt like I was in a 200 mile-an-hour windstorm.”
Washington wasn’t the only one stunned by just how damn big the dinosaur movie had become. The first two sequels to Jurassic Park had done fine, but nothing like the original. Jurassic World, on the other hand, inspired prehistoric hysteria that took even its creators back, making $650 million in America (hey, you go ahead and tell Denzel Washington he’s $50 million off) and well over $1.5 billion worldwide, becoming the fourth-biggest movie of all time. “We were all really kind of euphoric and grateful,” says Bryce Dallas Howard, Pratt’s co-star in the movie. “Every day and every night was a celebration.”
But the flip-side of gigantic success is gigantic expectation. And for Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, who had received a T-Rex menorah as a congratulations gift from producer Steven Spielberg and was gearing up to write the next instalment, the pressure had just gotten even more immense.
This story is from the June 2018 edition of Empire Australasia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 2018 edition of Empire Australasia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Out Of The Cage
From the ashes of Suicide Squad has risen something fresh, bold and exciting: birds of prey. Inside the first-ever female-ensemble superhero film
The Master Of Suspense
With a string of dazzling, high-concept thrillers, bong joon ho has drawn comparisons to hitchcock. But his films also have a strong social message, and his latest, parasite, is no exception
Wonder Woman Swings Into The '80s
Director Patty Jenkins on setting Diana Prince loose in the era of excess
The Many Parts Of Martin Lawrence
As the comedian makes a bigscreen comeback, he talks us through his greatest roles
HIS NUMBER'S UP
AFTER 14 YEARS, THE LONGEST TENURE OF ANY BOND, DANIEL CRAIG IS ABOUT TO HANG UP HIS MARTINI GLASS AND WALTHER PPK. EMPIRE TRACKS 007 ACROSS THE GLOBE, FROM LONDON TO JAMAICA AND NEW YORK, TO BRING YOU THE ULTIMATE INTEL ON NO TIME TO DIE. AND HIS EMOTIONAL FAREWELL...
THE FALL GUYS
In 2011, Zack Stentz and Ashley Edward Miller were the hottest new screenwriting team in Hollywood. Then they disappeared. Eight years later, they tell EMPIRE their cautionary tale; revealing the tough reality of a writer's life Hollywood
Buddy Hell
The last blockbuster to be released in the 1980s, Tango & Cash seemed like a no-brainer: a buddy-cop team-up for two of Hollywood’s biggest stars. But it didn’t take long for the wheels to spectacularly come off
BLAZING a TRAIL
Queen & Slim IS A ROAD MOVIE, A TENDER ROMANCE AND AN UNFLINCHING LOOK AT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLACK IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA. EMPIRE ASSEMBLES ITS WRITER, DIRECTOR AND TWO STARS FOR A FRANK, FREEWHEELING CONVERSATION ABOUT WHY IT NEEDED TO BE MADE
BATTLE PLANS
HOW SAM MENDES AND TEAM TURNED WORLD WAR I DRAMA 1917INTO A REAL-TIME, ONE-TAKE WONDER
An Oscar-winning director. The world's biggest pop star. A classic West End musical. Judi Dench with a tail. The biggest gamble of the year
Ever since the trailer dropped the world has been mesmerized by Cats. We journey deep inside the maddest, milkiest film of 2019
