How Chaos Theory and The End of Oak Street can inform Jurassic Park 8

So, in the past couple weeks, if you follow the news in the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World space, you will have heard of Gareth Edwards’s departure from the sequel to 2025’s Jurassic World Rebirth. This also came with an update that David Koepp is returning with a new draft following up on the events of the last film. This leads us to many questions as to who will take on the director’s mantle and fulfill the vision that Universal has.

Also, for those following paleo media in general, you are also aware of a little movie that’s releasing (as I am writing this) this weekend. While I believe it is important to form your own opninion first, it does not go unnoticed that many critics who were dissatisfied with many of the Jurassic sequels are calling The End of Oak Street the best live-action dinosaur flick since 1993’s Jurassic Park.

In the past year, DreamWorks even wrapped up loose threads of Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom and Dominion in the series finale of Jurassic World Chaos Theory, which also has been critically acclaimed for its better focus on the threat of dinosaurs in the modern world whereas Rebirth has opted for a more condensed route in the equatorial regions.

With these two in mind and the ambiguity of where Jurassic World Rebirth can take fans of the now 33 year old franchise to next, I’ve decided to write an opinion piece on what works in Chaos Theory and Oak Street and how those can inform what the next sequel needs to capture.

Just as another disclaimer, this will contain some spoilers from The End of Oak Street. So, feel free to come back to this after you see the movie!

Jurassic World Chaos Theory and its predecessor Camp Cretaceous provided fans an opportunity to follow an unlikely group of six kids who could be anything but alike. But the trauma that they endure from being abandoned on an island full of dinosaurs tests each of their resilience within themselves as well as a group. Each season of both shows provides dilemmas surrounding their survival and ability to escape as well as their willingness to act against evil forces that be that want to harm dinosaurs. This level of character driven storytelling gives us a vantage point parallel to the movies that we don’t always get time to see on the big screen due to the nature of your average big-screen blockbuster. This is what I feel that the writers of the show really excelled in.

The wonder of dinosaurs is mostly conveyed through protagonist Darius Bowman. As much as he in awe of these creatures whether on the islands or on the mainland, he doesn’t forget that these are animals lost in time and as Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park mentioned, “these are aggressive living beings who have no idea what century they are in and will defend themselves violently if necessary”. Striking that balance is what I believe is crucial in a Jurassic film because it puts you into that perspective of awe but also reverence. Even in the most terrifying of scenes, you can stand back in wonder. We see this in Rebirth when Loomis is cheering at the sight of the Mosasaur breaching the water as well the entirety of the Titanosaur sequence. Within Chaos Theory even, we see moments like the Parasaurolophus lux herd grazing with their illuminated pigmentation that gives you something fresh, but also a reminder that in the midst of a stampede to steer cleer of them.

Since 1993’s Jurassic Park, the boom in interest in stem and paleontology is well noted. With that, comes an educational piece where such a successful franchise can introduce new species on the silver screen in a way that’s separate from a documentary style introduction. We’ve even seen evolutions of existing species in the franchise and that showcases the beauty of science that it’s constantly evolving. Within Chaos Theory, our protagonists take the time to identify the species from the films that many of the general public not accustomed to those names, will now finally learn the difference. For instance, the Atrociraptors. I could not tell you how many articles and reviews called the ones in Dominion, Velociraptors… Providing opportunities through the marketing especially with the cast members can be great way to engage with fans and casual watchers.

Jurassic World Rebirth decided to shake things up post Dominion particularly due to the lackluster reception of the 2022 film. The most significant, being that the “dinosaurs in our world” subplot was being minimized to the equatorial regions and the ones that tried to survive on our turf were dying off within the five years of the last film. As many fellow paleo fans have pointed out, the justification that Rebirth gave was weak as fossil records show dinosaurs living in more variable climates including snowier regions. To add to shaking up of the lore, we get a new island on the Atlantic side where the film vaguely alludes to the Jurassic World theme park performing shadowy operations on Isle St. Hubert. The marketing made this even more confusing where it seemed like World was almost being retconned. However, I feel the story provided in the Jurassic World Evolution 3 DLC this summer provided some reasonable closure of those gaps.

Chaos Theory on the other hand, I think did a really strong job at providing a unique story-line parallel to Dominion where you could see where certain events from the movie were taking place. Obviously due to union issues, it would have been expensive to have some of the biggere stars and characters return, but from a story standpoint, it was clear that there was enough crosstalk between the DreamWorks team and Colin Trevorrow with carrying out the initial World trilogy’s expansion of the lore.

What the sequel to Rebirth really needs to do is, if in fact there are no retcons per David Koepp’s commandments, is to dig into the lore and connect those loose threads in new and exciting ways that feel rewarding for fans following the 33 year journey of the franchise.

Going into the movie, I didn’t get a sense of the time period so much from the marketing. But, early on it is established as an 80’s story that gives more of a classic Spielbergian-Amblin vibe with an edgier-horror twist that just manages to satisfy the PG-13 rating. Throughout the course of the film we get to see the growth of the Platt family from an initially fragile to a very tight-knit bond. They are just as ordinary as they seem and the circumstances they are put through with being transported back in the time of the dinosaurs gives them the most grueling therapy session of their lives. We see this Amblin vibe through the Goonies, ET, Jurassic Park, so on and so forth. Rebirth to some extent has that vibe of extraordinary circumstances, but is held back with the repetitive nature of returning to an island. Whereas, the story could be pushed forward into isolated adventures. The Jurassic franchise and even Michael Crichton’s work is very forward thinking of the state of the world, so balancing the Amblin vibe that feels cozy and adventurous, but all the more relevant in a modern world is what sequels need to capture.

This is up for debate, but some will look at these movies and think there’s so much dino action you can do where it becomes repetitive. But, what amazed me about The End of Oak Street is that rather than using jump scares for some major moments, it used dramatic irony, where we see an Allosaurus or a Titanoboa-like serpent creeping up on our protagonists. And when you think about some theropods in the fossil record, they have padded feet that furthers aids them in their stealthy scavenging for food. This helps to kick off exciting action sequences that keep you guessing. Also, as we see at the end of the Allosaurus sequence Gregg Platt doesn’t make it, in a gruesome way.

Jurassic hasn’t shied away from some shock and awe motions like that, but I think using predatory tactics in the animal kingdom or fossil record and even hints of dramatic irony unique to different species can make thrilling sequences with carnivores and herbivores alike that can still push the rating, but be at the same time appealing to all ages of fans.

Arguably the designs of some of the species are a little iffy. But, I think ILM still did a fine job in having these animals that were often bare in the Jurassic films, decently feathered in Oak Street. This gave viewers something unique to look at in terms of coloration and design so it doesn’t look like your average theropod or sauropod. As noted in the marketing, there is a bit of speculative design mixing different time periods of species and what they are closesly related to, so some are left to be more ambiguous than others. Regardless, many of the species were still used effectively, whether for elements of fear, comedy, or even a bit of wonder.

The End of Oak Street technically limits itself to the neighborhood of Flowervale, but it capitalizes on aspect that many were hoping to see in Jurassic World Dominion. The direction for that ended up in being a time jump to four years later. Whereas, Chaos Theory managed to show more of those sequences that fans were eager for. Here in Oak Street, you get to see these animals maneuver around to give a sense of perspective and also provide those elements of thrill and maybe a bit of wonder in juxtaposition with the humans in the neighborhood. A sequel idea I have in my head (though I think it doesn’t need one) is exploring the dangers of tampering with space-time and these animals altogether in a Stranger Things/Witch Mountain kind of way.

With the sequel to Rebirth, one of my ideas that pops into my head as a potential progression is exploring more of the equatorial regions like Central America, Africa, India, Indonesia. There are still suburban areas there that could provide some interesting setups for dino sequences. The Central America portion could prove most intriguing especially if Parker-Genix is meddling further with older InGen facilities that bridge the islands in the Pacific with the Atlantic.

This shows in my opinion that there is still opportunity for some course correction that capitalizes on the end of Jurassic World Dominion while still going full speed ahead in this Rebirth era. There are elements in both of these properties that I discussed that can further strengthen the next film and I hope give us another exciting trilogy in the Jurassic franchise. To wrap up things, I’ll leave off with a question to you, the reader, what do you think a future Jurassic sequel needs from recent paleo-media whether be from within or outside of the franchise?