As originally argued by film historian Kim Newman in Nightmare Movies, film production operates on the surfing principle: a maverick defies the odds and makes a movie which creates a ripple in the ocean. Instantly, all the studios and producers lazing on the beach grab their boards and streak down the water to try and ride the wave. Then, wipe out! Everyone swims back to shore to lick their wounds and wait for the next wave. If you wait long enough the same exact wave will come back around again, e.g., slasher films, superhero movies, and vampires have all wiped out and come back multiple times.
So it is that we find ourselves in a familiar position. Back in 1993, Jurassic Park became one of the top two highest-grossing films of all time to that point, and in the ensuing years we got more dinosaurs (the Whoopi Goldberg comedy Theodore Rex), monsters (Anaconda, Deep Blue Sea, the Roland Emmerich Godzilla) and further Michael Crichton adaptations (Congo, Sphere, Disclosure) as well as inevitable sequels (The Lost World, Jurassic Park 3). Here in 2015, Jurassic World is now only the fifth film in history to gross over $500 million at the domestic box office, improbably forcing its way into the conversation of highest-grossing films of all-time, a list preciously exclusive to Avatar, Titanic, and the first Avengers. Of course, because of Avatar we got stuff like the dreadful 3D in Clash of the Titans, Titanic gave us Pearl Harbor, and the Avengers is responsible for us having 30 superhero movies due out in the next 5 years. So, the Jurassic World knock-offs are on their way, and history tell us to lower our expectations.
Either way, here are three films which have been announced since Jurassic World‘s record-setting opening weekend:
Meg
Studio: Warner Bros.
Premise: Based on the Steve Alten novel of the same name, Meg revolves around two men who band together to not only take out a giant, prehistoric shark (Megaladon, thus the “Meg” of the title) but also prove its very existence since few are willing to believe their tales of a long-since extinct shark being trapped in the Mariana Trench. They start coming around on that, though, when the beast gets loose and starts showing off its size by swallowing entire whales whole. The trailer I included above was actually created for Meg: Hell’s Aquarium, the fourth novel in Steve Alten’s Meg Saga. The fifth installment is due out soon.
Talent: Eli Roth is attached to direct, although the project has been in development hell for quite a while meaning Jurassic World merely gave this a solid kick in the butt rather than willing it into existence
Jurassic World Connection: It’s essentially Jaws with a ginormous, prehistoric shark, a species that originally lived during the Cenozoic Era (approximately 15.9 to 2.6 million years ago). Source: Collider
Shadows
Premise: They’re keeping it under wraps for now, but we know that it somehow revolves around cryptozoology, a pseudoscience that involves the study of animals whose existence has not been proven.
Talent: Rio/Rio 2 and Ice Age: The Meltdown and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs directors Carlos Saldanha is attached to make his live-action debut with Shadows
Jurassic World Connection: A monster-themed picture which can similarly delight our imagination with the type of animals we won’t find in the real world (at least not in this time period). Source: Collider
Micro
A photo contest created to promote the 2011 release of Crichton’s Micro
Studio: DreamWorks
Premise: A group of graduate students are lured to a lucrative job at a bio-tech company in Hawaii – only to find themselves shrunk down to a microscopic level and forced to survive the dangers of the rainforest. Think of it as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids + Ant-Man meets The Maze Runner + “The Most Dangerous Game.”
Talent: Steven Spielberg (not clear if he intends to direct) and Frank Marshall as producer
Jurassic World Connection: It’s being developed by two of Jurassic World‘s producers, Spielberg and Marshall, and it is based on a Michael Crichgton book which was completed and released after his death. So, really, it’s kind of the old Jurassic Park gang back together again just, you know, not so much Crichton since he’s dead, but his widow, Sherri Crichton, will oversee it as well. Source: Deadline
None of these are guaranteed to actually get made, but we should expect this list to grow in the coming months. Furthermore, on top of the more obvious dinosaur/monster movie/per-historic creature knock-offs Jurassic World‘s success might inspire more sequels and franchise reboots.
