Jurassic World: Dominion Has Spent Almost $3 Million on COVID-19 Tests

Back in July the upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion became the first major Hollywood production to [...]

Back in July the upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion became the first major Hollywood production to resume filming, continuing in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with a mountain of safety protocols in place. Other productions followed suit with some even falling prey to further delays, Warner Bros. The Batman paused production after star Robert Pattinson tested positive for the coronavirus, but life found a way with the Universal Studios production. New details about the amount of money and effort being put into making sure the set is safe have been revealed in a new report, and to keep it on brand, the studio spared no expense.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal rented out an entire hotel near the set of the film in the UK and are regularly testing the cast, crew, and staff of the hotel where everyone is living. They've done so many COVID-19 tests in the time since production resumed that they've processed over 27,000 tests and spent nearly $3 million on the testing alone (under 10 of them returned positive results). To their credit, producer Patrick Crowley says the studio hasn't tried to cut corners, saying: "Universal never blinked. They said, 'You've got to do what you've got to do.' "

The first two Jurassic World movies have each grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, so the cost of extra precautions on set of what seems like the final film in this series is a drop in the bucket for the studio. Crowley continued on the subject, revealing the types of conversations that have become the new normal on sets.

"When you get up and running, you realize that you need to go over and talk to that crew person and say, 'Buddy, put the mask up over your nose.' Or you find the three guys who are just 18 inches away from each other talking about what a great time they had last weekend, and you have to break it up. We have people who are hired to do nothing but go, 'You need to get 2 meters away from him,' because you know that the success of the show and the likelihood of them continuing to have jobs in the industry is dependent on that."

Crowley also revealed that the production requires a full 14 days of isolation for anyone exposed to someone with a positive test, mandated by Universal's parent company Comcast. "It can be a nightmare," he added. "All of a sudden you have four people who aren't able to go to work and you have to figure out a workaround but if we don't stick by the rule, we don't have any uniform way of assuring accountability."

Jurassic World: Dominion remains scheduled to arrive in theaters on June 11, 2021.

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