Production of the 2015 film Jurassic World was stalled for years in development hell while the film's storyline underwent numerous revisions. Development of the film, known then as Jurassic Park IV, began in 2001. William Monahan was announced as screenwriter in 2002, and the film was scheduled for a 2005 release. When Monahan left to work on another project, he was replaced in 2004 by John Sayles. By 2005, the start of production had stalled, as executive producer Steven Spielberg was not satisfied with any of the script drafts. In 2006, Jurassic Park III director Joe Johnston was set to direct the film. After missing a 2008 release, Johnston and Spielberg intended to work on the film following the completion of their own respective film projects. Writer Mark Protosevich was hired in 2011, although two story treatments by him were rejected.
Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver were hired in 2012 to write a draft of Jurassic Park IV that would incorporate ideas from Spielberg. Colin Trevorrow was hired as director in 2013, and the film was delayed once more, giving Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly more time to perfect the script by Jaffa and Silver. Spielberg approved the script in September 2013, and a name change to Jurassic World was announced that month. Filming occurred from April 10 to August 5, 2014, in Hawaii and Louisiana. Jurassic World was completed on May 10, 2015, and was theatrically released the following month.
Development
In March 2001, Jurassic Park III director Joe Johnston said he and executive producer Steven Spielberg had discussed a story idea for a fourth Jurassic Park film. Johnston was not interested in directing the next installment, although Spielberg would return as producer. It was revealed in 2022 that Spielberg's initial idea for Jurassic Park IV involved an intelligent dinosaur-human hybrid which escapes from a laboratory and rampages through a city, further exploring the concept of genetic manipulation and its effects. Spielberg believed that the idea, devised late in Jurassic Park IIIs production, should have been used for the third film. He considered it the best story idea since the first Jurassic Park.
Development of further ideas was underway by May 2001. A month later, Johnston announced he would not direct the film and said that Spielberg's story idea would extend the Jurassic Park series' mythology. Johnston said the film would feel like a departure from its predecessors, implying it would not be set on an island. He also said the film would not involve the escaped Pteranodons from the ending of Jurassic Park III, then later hinted it would.
Actor Sam Neill, who portrayed Dr. Alan Grant in two previous films in the series, said he could not imagine a way for his character to be involved in another film. Neill was contracted for three films; other actors from Jurassic Park III were also contracted for a potential fourth film. In April 2002, it was reported that the fourth Jurassic Park film would be the last in the series and that it would ignore events portrayed in its predecessor. In June, Spielberg confirmed plans for a fourth film, which he hoped Johnston would direct. By October 2002, Neill was being considered for a possible role in the film. The following month, William Monahan was announced as the screenwriter, with Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy as producers. Universal Pictures would be involved in the film's production. The film was scheduled for a mid-2005 release.
In January 2003, Jeff Goldblum said he had been asked to stay available for a possible return of his character Dr. Ian Malcolm. At the end of the month, it was reported the story would partially involve dinosaurs migrating to the Costa Rican mainland. A team of experts, including Grant and Malcolm, would chart an expedition to an offshore island and discover the dinosaurs breeding freely. Part of the plot would involve the characters devising a way to restrict the spread of the dinosaurs and prevent an ecological disaster. Early concept art also depicted genetically engineered human-dinosaur mercenaries, viewed by the filmmakers as a necessary evolution of the franchise.
Stan Winston's special effects studio, which worked on the previous films, was in the design phase for the film as of April 2003. Winston intended for the special effects to be more advanced than in the previous films, for instance by creating animatronics of Velociraptors with internal motors, providing better control and movement. Winston said Spielberg wanted to adapt several unfilmed scenes from Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park novel and its sequel The Lost World. By July 2003, Keira Knightley was in consideration for two roles, including a small part as a granddaughter.Knightly in Boxoffice via Monahan's first draft of the script was finished later that month; the story was not set in a jungle, as in previous films. Filming was set to begin in 2004 in California and Hawaii. Neill confirmed that he would return, and Richard Attenborough said he would reprise his role as John Hammond.
In October 2003, paleontologist Jack Horner said he would return as technical adviser for the fourth film, and hinted that it would have a focus on Velociraptors. He was also asked about a hypothetical idea of humans evolving from dinosaurs rather than mammals; Horner responded, "Keep thinking about that, and in a couple of years go see Jurassic Park 4". In March 2004, Johnston said he had not been asked to direct the film and hoped Spielberg would direct it. Johnston said a story was being written that would take the series in a completely different direction "away from the island and away from the T. rex and all this". A month later, script doctors were being sought to work on the story, which involved dinosaurs being trained by the government to carry and use weapons in battles. As of May 2004, screenwriter John Sayles was writing the script, after being hired to finish Monahan's earlier work. Monahan had left the project to focus on Kingdom of Heaven, and later said of his work on Jurassic Park IV, "I wrote it really funny. The kids in it were like the ones in Willy Wonka."
Sayles wrote two drafts for the film. In his first draft, Isla Nublar and InGen have been taken over by Grendel Corporation, a holdings company. Creatures from the island, including Pteranodons, have begun attacking people on the mainland of Central and North America. The script featured a brief return to Isla Nublar and focused on a mercenary named Nick Harris, a new character sent by Hammond to the island to retrieve a canister of dinosaur DNA that was lost during the events of the first film. With the DNA, Hammond intends to have his scientists create a new group of infertile dinosaurs that can kill the extant ones. Harris retrieves the canister but is kidnapped and taken to Grendel's headquarters in the Swiss Alps. There, he is persuaded to help the company train a team of genetically modified Deinonychus and two Dilophosaurus for use on rescue missions and to combat drug dealers. The dinosaurs would be equipped with body armor and would use their teeth and claws as weapons. The Deinonychus would be hybrids, containing human DNA for intelligence and dog DNA for obedience. The script focused mostly on the efforts of Harris and a team of experts as they train the dinosaurs. Hammond would be the only returning character in this draft. The concept of a human who trains raptors came from Spielberg.
By June 2004, Frank Marshall had joined the project as a producer, while Alex Proyas was in discussions to direct, with filming expected to begin in nine months for a late-2005 release. Filming would begin at Pinewood Studios, where a massive tank was to be constructed for scenes involving marine reptiles. In July 2004, the script was being rewritten. Jeremy Piven and Emmy Rossum were being considered for two of the lead roles, [quote from Cinemania] and Glen Powell auditioned as well. Later in July, Proyas said he was not interested in directing the film. In August 2004, Drew McWeeny of Ain't It Cool News published a review of Sayles's initial draft, calling it "well-written and inventive" but "bugfuck crazy". Sayles later confirmed this as an early draft, intercepted through Spielberg's email by a hacker. Sayles was still rewriting the script in September 2004, with the film on track for a late-2005 release.
Stalled progress In April 2005, Winston confirmed the film was on hold because of repeated revisions to the script, none of which satisfied Spielberg. According to Winston: "He felt neither of [the drafts] balanced the science and adventure elements effectively ... too much science will make the movie too talky, but too much adventure will make it seem hollow". Progress stalled during 2005, as Marshall and Spielberg were busy with other film projects. In January 2006, Johnston and Horner were working on a new story. A month later, Marshall said the project had a script and would begin filming in 2007 for release the following year. He later said that only a story idea existed and that a new script had not yet been written. Work on the project was expected to begin following the completion of a fourth Indiana Jones film by Spielberg and Marshall.
Spielberg said in July 2006 that Johnston would direct Jurassic Park IV.Spielberg in At the end of the year, Laura Dern said she was open to reprising her role as Ellie Sattler but had not been contacted about appearing in the film. A few months later, Neill said he knew nothing about the project. By April 2007, Dern had been asked to reprise her role, with filming expected to begin that year for release in 2008. By that time, Johnston no longer planned to direct the film. A Writers Guild of America strike began in November 2007, and Marshall said that further work on the script would begin once the strike reached a resolution, with filming potentially starting in 2008 for a release in mid-2009. Horner's 2009 book, How to Build a Dinosaur, was originally planned for release alongside the film as a scientific companion volume.
During 2008, Attenborough and Goldblum expressed interest in reprising their roles, although Attenborough suffered a fall at his home later that year and subsequently retired from acting. In addition, Crichton died at the end of 2008, and Kennedy said: "I sorta felt maybe that's it. Maybe that's a sign that we don't mess with it". Marshall said six months later that the film had no story and was a long shot.
In a 2008 interview, published a year later, Johnston discussed the possibility of Jurassic Park IV, saying that its story was completely different from its predecessors and would not be set on an island. Johnston also said the film would take the series into a second Jurassic Park trilogy. Interview conducted approximately two months (circa September) before Johnston signed on to direct Captain America: The First Avenger in November. In early 2010, he reiterated that the film would mark the beginning of a new trilogy. Johnston said the film would feature new characters and a new story, with no dinosaur theme park and no relation to the Monahan/Sayles script. Johnston hoped to further develop Jurassic Park IV with Spielberg after they finished other projects, including Johnston's 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger.
To accompany the relaunch of the Jurassic Park franchise, Spielberg wanted to release a sequel to the 1998 game Trespasser. He contacted Seamus Blackley, who oversaw the original game, to work on the sequel. Blackley's proposed game was titled Jurassic World. It would involve dinosaurs escaping from InGen's islands and reaching civilization. A pitch trailer was created in 2011, depicting loose pterosaurs attacking a surfer. Although Spielberg liked the idea, the game was canceled following a management change at Universal, and Blackley sent the art assets to Marshall.