Steven Spielberg looking to reboot Jurassic Park

A fourth JURASSIC PARK film has been in the works since early 2002, just after the third film hit theaters. Over the years, a number of talented people, including William Monahan, John Sayles and Joe Johnston, have been working on the film in some capacity but the project never got off the ground. But now Steven Spielberg has a new idea: reboot.

Spielberg has been quietly meeting with writer Mark Protosevich (I AM LEGEND) to flesh out ideas on how to properly reboot the franchise. It’s unclear if what Spielberg is envisioning would be a remake of the original, although that seems unlikely. More likely is a “concept reboot” – a sequel that would take the franchise in a new direction (think FAST FIVE or the proposed GHOSTBUSTERS film). Spielberg and Protosevich are currently working on ideas for a new story though Universal cautions that no writer has been hired to work on a script and the meetings are “exploratory.”

Exploratory or not, they mark the first significant movement on the JURASSIC PARK front since author Michael Crichton died in 2008 (at the time, producer Kathleen Kennedy said she felt Crichton’s death marked the end of the franchise).

Previous incarnations of the script were significant departures from the original films, especially the 2005 draft by Sayles, which reimagined the dinosaurs as hyper-intelligent creatures engineered and trained to carry guns and go on commando missions (seriously). Back in 2010, Johnston (who directed the third film) confirmed that draft was out and they were looking to launch a new trilogy. But is that still part of what Spielberg is looking to do here?

Frankly, I think a straight reboot of the franchise would be a mistake but if Spielberg and Protosevich can crack the code and find a new and fresh way to attack the material while keeping the legacy of the original films alive, then I’d be all for it.