Los Angeles Times

How 'Jurassic World' used the DNA of a beloved franchise to build a bold new universe

A brilliant chaos theorist once observed that "life ... uh ... finds a way."

In Hollywood, so do multibillion-dollar properties. Hence the action fivequel "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," which roars into theaters Friday poised to devour the box office 25 years after the first film thrilled audiences around the globe.

Audiences appear to be as dino-crazy as ever over the franchise spawned from Steven Spielberg's 1993 classic "Jurassic Park," adapted from Michael Crichton's 1990 novel about geneticists playing God with dinosaur DNA. The 2015 franchise-reviving "Jurassic World" scored record-breaking numbers before tallying $1.6 billion worldwide.

But "Jurassic World" also faced its share of criticism (remember the high-heels controversy? the filmmakers do), and franchise fatigue has set in before - 2001's critically mauled "Jurassic Park III" put the series on ice for 14 years.

With a third "Jurassic World" film already in the works, to complete a planned second trilogy, the stewards of Universal Pictures' valuable "Jurassic" universe have a tricky negotiation ahead: How do you keep the series' core DNA intact while pushing a commercially vital franchise forward?

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