New Jurassic World Movie Loses Director David Leitch as Talks Fall Through

A filmmaker being “in talks” for a project doesn’t mean they are officially attached to the project, as proven by Deadline‘s report that David Leitch won’t be directing Jurassic World 4 after all. The outlet notes that the reason for the split was due to creative differences, though with it never officially being announced that he was developing the project, the split is said to be amicable. The film currently has David Koepp, who wrote the original Jurassic Park, attached to write the script and the film also has a release date of July 2, 2025, yet it’s unclear if the search for a director will impact the film’s release date.

Leitch had previously directed films like Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train, with a Jurassic World film likely earning him his biggest budget to date. While his foray into the world of superheroes was a massive financial win, his career leans more into mature subject matter, so it’s possible that he might have had a more intense vision for the franchise than its PG-13 predecessors. 

The first Jurassic Park landed in theaters in 1993, which was based on the Michael Crichton novel of the same name. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the experience was an undeniable triumph of both story and special effects, which pushed the possibilities of cinematic storytelling into new directions. The sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, was also directed by Spielberg, also based on a Crichton novel, and also a financial success, but critical reactions didn’t reach quite the same heights.

That disappointing trajectory continued with 2001’s Jurassic Park III, which saw the series stagnate for more than a decade. In that franchise downtime, a number of reported projects emerged that tackled ambitious subject matter, with concept art emerging in that timeframe teasing that dinosaur-human hybrids would have been a focal point of a potential sequel. Instead, the fourth installment arrived in 2015 from director Colin Trevorrow, with Jurassic World instead seeing a successful version of delivering an amusement park featuring live dinosaurs. The film became a massive financial success and entirely revived the franchise, resulting in the sequels Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World Dominion.

The upcoming fourth Jurassic World will reportedly be an entirely fresh approach to the franchise and won’t feature any characters from previous films. 

Jurassic World 4 is set to hit theaters on July 2, 2025.

Are you looking forward to the sequel? Let us know in the comments!