An Update On ‘Jurassic Park IV’ From Producer Kathleen Kennedy

Talking to Coming Soon while doing promotion for the Blu-Ray release of E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, producer Kathleen Kennedy offered a bit of an update on the fourth Jurassic Park film. The last bit of news on the film revealed that the fourth installment was set to be written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes), and producer Frank Marshall suggested that we could possibly see the film released in a couple of years. Kennedy confirms that the film is indeed currently being written. She also talks about the expectations in keeping franchises going as well as finding the right story for this film.

“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. 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. We’ve got to start with a script and the story.”

There currently is no director attached to helm the film. And Steven Spielberg has already gone on to state that he won’t be doing it. Joe Johnston, who directed Jurassic Park III, has expressed interest in directing the follow-up, but currently there is no word on that one. Do you guys have any directors in mind that you’d like to see?