Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a 2018 science fiction action film directed by J. A. Bayona and written by Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow. The sequel to Jurassic World (2015), it is the second installment in the Jurassic World trilogy and the fifth installment overall in the Jurassic Park film series. Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, BD Wong, and Jeff Goldblum reprise their roles from previous films in the series, with Toby Jones, Ted Levine, and Rafe Spall joining the cast. The story follows Owen Grady and Claire Dearing as they return to the fictional Central American island of Isla Nublar to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from an impending volcanic eruption, only to discover a mercenary team's ulterior motives to bring them to the US mainland.
Filming took place from February to July 2017 in the United Kingdom and in Hawaii. Fallen Kingdom premiered in Madrid on May 21, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 22, by Universal Pictures. On a budget of $432 million, the film is the second-most expensive film ever made. The film grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide, making it the third Jurassic film to pass the billion-dollar mark, and was the third-highest-grossing film of 2018 and the 12th-highest-grossing film of all time. It received mixed reviews from critics, who generally praised the visuals and darker tone, while others criticized the screenplay and felt the series had run its course. A sequel titled Jurassic World Dominion was released in 2022.
Plot[]
Shortly after the events of Jurassic World in 2015, a small mercenary team arrives on the abandoned Isla Nublar to collect DNA from the Indominus rex remains in the lagoon. After they collect a bone sample, the Mosasaurus devours their submersible. The Tyrannosaurus (Rexy) attacks their helicopter, but they manage to escape with the sample, also allowing the Mosasaurus to escape into the open ocean.
Three years later, a United States Senate committee debates whether Isla Nublar's dinosaurs should be saved from an impending volcanic eruption. Mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm testifies that the dinosaurs should perish naturally to correct the wrongful cloning done by John Hammond. Meanwhile, Jurassic World's former operations manager, Claire Dearing, has established the Dinosaur Protection Group to save the animals. After the Senate rules against rescuing the animals, Hammond's former partner, Sir Benjamin Lockwood, summons Claire to his Northern California estate. Lockwood and his aide, Eli Mills, reveal a plan to relocate the dinosaurs to a new island sanctuary. Claire is needed to reactivate the park's tracking system to locate the animals, particularly Blue, the last surviving Velociraptor. Claire recruits Owen Grady, former Velociraptor trainer, to help capture her.
On Isla Nublar, Claire and former park technician Franklin Webb reactivate the online tracking system. Owen, paleo-veterinarian Zia Rodriguez, and a mercenary team led by Ken Wheatley, track and find Blue. The encounter escalates, resulting in Blue being shot and Wheatley tranquilizing Owen. Wheatley then abandons Owen, Claire, and Franklin on the island while forcibly taking Zia hostage to treat Blue. The ship, loaded with captured dinosaurs, departs as the remaining dinosaurs are left behind to die in the eruption. Claire, Franklin, and Owen sneak aboard the ship and help Zia transfuse Blue with Tyrannosaurus blood to save her life.
Rather than being relocated to a new island, the captured dinosaurs are transported to the Lockwood estate, where Lockwood's orphaned granddaughter, Maisie, overhears Mills and auctioneer Mr. Eversoll secretly planning to sell the dinosaurs on the black market. They will also preview the Indoraptor, a weaponized, transgenic dinosaur created by geneticist Dr. Henry Wu using Indominus rex and Velociraptor DNA. Wu needs Blue's DNA to create an improved Indoraptor that is obedient to commands, unaware that Blue's blood is no longer pure. After Maisie informs Lockwood about the auction, he confronts Mills, who murders him. Maisie is later revealed to have been cloned from Lockwood's deceased daughter and the reason why John Hammond ended their association.
The auctioned dinosaurs are being immediately shipped out. Franklin evades capture and frees Zia, but Owen and Claire have been apprehended. Owen incites a Stygimoloch into breaking open their cell. The two encounter Maisie, and they learn the Indoraptor is being sold despite Wu's protests that it is a prototype. Owen disrupts the auction by luring the Stygimoloch into the room. In the ensuing chaos, Wheatley tranquilizes the Indoraptor to extract a tooth as a trophy, but the hybrid, having merely feigned unconsciousness, kills Wheatley, Eversoll, and others as it escapes. It chases Owen, Claire, and Maisie throughout the mansion until Blue, released by Zia, confronts the Indoraptor. Atop a high glass roof, both animals crash through it, with the Indoraptor being impaled on the brow horns of the Agujaceratops skull on display, killing it and leaving Blue unharmed.
When a hydrogen cyanide gas leak threatens the caged dinosaurs, Claire frees them, ignoring Owen's objections and Maisie opens the final gate allowing the remaining dinosaurs to go out into the open. As Mills attempts to leave with the Indominus rex bone, the Tyrannosaurus devours him and tramples the bone. Owen, Claire, Maisie, Zia, and Franklin escape, while Blue and the other released dinosaurs flee the estate grounds. In a new U.S. Senate hearing, Dr. Malcolm declares the beginning of a neo-Jurassic Age, where humans and dinosaurs must coexist. The closing scenes depict the freed dinosaurs roaming the wilderness and outer urban areas.