Although a new dinosaur adventure will be hitting theaters on June 13, 2014 with Jurassic Park IV, it appears that one key member of the franchise’s creative team won’t be returning. Kathleen Kennedy will not be back as a producer as she’s now busy overseeing the cinematic future of the Star Wars universe as co-chairman of Lucasfilm.
“No,” Frank Marshall, Kennedy’s husband and producing partner writes on Twitter. “Ms. Kennedy has moved onto Star Wars and will not be producing JP4. She’s traded raptors for TIE fighters.”
Details on the project are currently few, but Jurassic Park IV will be produced by Steven Spielberg with a director yet-to-be-named. It is also being planned for a 3D release.
“It’s really hard to keep these things going when there’s an expectation and a desire by the public and the audience to keep certain franchises going,” Kennedy herself told ComingSoon.net about the Jurassic Park franchise last fall. “As filmmakers, we often sit there going, ‘Okay. We have to answer the question, ‘Why do another one?” If you can’t answer that question, you shouldn’t be doing it. It’s tough. We’re trying to come up with a story that makes sense and isn’t going to disappoint people and is, hopefully, going to get people excited and reinvigorate the franchise.”
Currently unconfirmed, it is believed that the most recent draft of the sequel was scripted by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.
The original 1993 Jurassic Park will see a 3D re-release on April 5 of this year, also hitting IMAX 3D theaters.
(Photo Credit: WENN.com)
