Rumor: Jurassic Park reboot may be on the horizon

Will Steven Spielberg delay plans for Jurassic Park 4 in favor of a complete reboot?

Steven Spielberg, director of the first two Jurassic Park films and exec producer of the third, has been meeting with Mark Protosevich, who wrote I Am Legend and Thor, in regards to penning a new script for the fourth film.

There has been no announcement as to what form the film (which has been in development hell for about 3 years under the working title Jurassic Park: Extinction) will take. 

Long speculation has assumed that this film would be another sequel to the original blockbuster, one which takes the story yet further from the confines of the original, now mostly irrelevant, novel by Michael Crichton.

The rumor now, however, is that Spielberg is more interested in a reboot than a sequel.

Special effects, and especially 3D filming, have come so far since the original film that it could be vastly updated for modern audiences.

In addition a remake always allows for new interpretations, and the ability to tie the story to more relevant modern social, political, and technological concerns.

Is this film really deep and pervasive enough to need a reboot?

I’m not sure it does, but I’d be happier to see that over another mediocre sequel. Jurassic Park 4 would be “oh, another Jurassic Park, finally,” while a Jurassic Park reboot would a major film event, a touchstone of cinema history getting a facelift, and not just a Lucasian remastering, but a real readaptation for modern audiences. 

Sure it’s just a rumor, but I’m willing to root for it.