Jurassic World 3 Likely the Next Major 2021 Movie to Have Its Release Date Delayed by Coronavirus

Jurassic World: Dominion likely won’t roam the Earth in summer 2021 as studios reshuffle release dates amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, which forced Universal Pictures to shut down production last month on the sixth entry in its long-running Jurassic Park franchise. Following a late February shooting start, work on the Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom sequel was paused indefinitely mid-March, around the same time another prospective blockbuster also planned for June 2021 — Warner Bros. production The Batman — suspended filming indefinitely. Days ago, Warner Bros. pushed their DC Comics tentpole off its June 25, 2021 date, rescheduling The Batman for October 1, 2021.

Star Chris Pratt, who returns as former dino-trainer Owen Grady alongside Bryce Dallas Howard’s ex-Jurassic World park operations manager Claire Dearing, previously estimated the Jurassic World threequel would shoot for 100 days when comparing the sizable production to Marvel Studios blockbuster Avengers: Endgame.

Filming locations for the Colin Trevorrow-directed Dominion include Hawaii, Vancouver, and London’s Pinewood Studios. Before filming was abandoned in London, Dominion was reportedly set for a May shoot in the island country of Malta. It’s unclear when production can safely restart.

Like The Batman, which initiated principal photography in January, Jurassic World: Dominion could now be forced to delay its release date by several months whenever production resumes.

Universal in recent weeks pushed back Fast Saga sequel Fast & Furious 9 by one year, moving it from May 22 of this year to April 2, 2021. Series star and producer Vin Diesel said the decision was made when it became clear “that it won’t be possible for all of our fans around the world to see the film this May,” as most movie theaters around the world remain shuttered for the foreseeable future in the wake of COVID-19.

Should Dominion keep its June 2021 release date claimed by Universal and Amblin in February 2018, it would open one week before Warner Bros. musical In the Heights, once set for June of this year before it was delayed, and two weeks before Sony Pictures’ Marvel Comics-inspired Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which moved from October of this year into the June 25, 2021 release date recently vacated by The Batman.

“We have been cryogenically frozen, and Jurassic World: Dominion is on hold. Insects in amber. And like virtually every actor in the world right now, I’m not working. Dammit,” two-time Jurassic Park franchise star Sam Neill, who reprises his role as Dr. Alan Grant in Dominion, recently told Variety of the production pause. “But we will return. We will. And what joy it will be to be back on a set, doing what I love best, with just the kind of people I love: other actors and all the remarkable people it takes to make a movie. That rare privilege. And to put things into perspective – there are many many worse things than a suspended movie.”

Jurassic World: Dominion also stars DeWanda Wise, Omar Sy, Jake Johnson, Justice Smith, BD Wong, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum. The film is currently scheduled for June 11, 2021.