Jurassic World Rebirth Features A Fire-Breathing Mutant Dinosaur

This summer will see the return of the "Jurassic Park" or, depending on what year you were born in, "Jurassic World" property. In any event, Universal Pictures is looking to keep the dinosaur action going, but it also understands that the franchise needs to evolve in the aftermath of 2022's "Jurassic World Dominion." That brings us to director Gareth Edwards' "Jurassic World Rebirth," which brings in an entirely new cast, will be set in a new location, and, oh yes, will feature a fire-breathing mutant dinosaur. Yes, really.

During Universal's presentation at CinemaCon, which is currently going on in Las Vegas, the studio brought out Edwards, as well as stars Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, to introduce some new footage from "Rebirth." While we're not going to break down everything that was in the footage, Variety and other outlets have confirmed that said footage contained a "fire-breathing" dinosaur. Those same outlets have described the dinosaur as a T-rex — except, as we know thanks to six movies' worth of dinosaurs living with humans, they don't breathe fire.

The first trailer for "Jurassic World Rebirth" offered a few brief glimpses of a strange, mutant dinosaur. Though not confirmed, it's highly likely that this fire-breathing dinosaur is the mutant, which has been rumored to be a failed attempt at creating a T-rex early on in the development stages for the first version of Jurassic Park. It seems all of that DNA tinkering before InGen got it right resulted in some pretty wild (and dangerous) quirks.

Universal and Edwards have offered some clues about the mutant dinosaur in "Rebirth," but they are largely keeping the secrets under wraps. One assumes they are saving the particulars for opening weekend. What's clear is that they are truly trying to do something new, even if, on paper, that runs the risk of jumping the shark.

David Koepp, who wrote the script for the original "Jurassic Park," returned to pen this latest installment. He previously explained to /Film that he sees "Rebirth" as a chance to start over anew. Introducing a fire-breathing dinosaur is certainly one way to do that. It may sound silly, but this is just secondhand descriptions of footage, for one thing. For another, let's remember it's all about execution. Edwards, whose previous work includes 2014's "Godzilla" and "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," has proven he can make a very satisfying entry in a long-running franchise before.

Another thing to note is that "Rebirth" takes place at the original Jurassic Park research facility, which is a location we've not visited in the films before. This is not Isla Nublar where the original park was located before it was literally blown up by a volcano in "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," nor is it Isla Sorna, aka Site B, which we saw in "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and "Jurassic Park III." Clearly, this locale is going to bring some fresh horrors with it.

During the presentation, Johansson talked about her long-standing desire to join this particular property. Per Deadline, she also revealed the goal with the movie was to make the "Jurassic" franchise scary again, which is something it arguably hasn't been in quite some time. To quote Johansson directly:

"It's been a lifelong dream to be in a 'Jurassic' movie. Each time they were making a new one, I reached out and said I was available ... This time I went to Steven Spielberg directly and told him I would play any role even if I was eaten in the first five minutes ... We wanted to put the scares back into 'Jurassic,' keep the dinosaurs hidden, you turn around, no one really sees them ..."

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