The fifth installment of the Jurassic Park saga has begun filming today in Slough, England. We reported two days ago that the upcoming Jurassic World sequel would film on site at the Langley Business Centre today, and as expected activity in the area has kicked into gear. While we do not know what’s being filmed today, we do have pictures of the staging area and the “Picture Vehicle Department”.
As you can see, it’s using the ‘Ancient Futures’ working title, rather than outright calling it Jurassic World – but it’s quite obvious what film it is with that font! Interestingly, as the sign points out, this is the “Picture Vehicle Department”, which presumably is a warehouse filled with Jurassic World themed vehicles. This would possibly explain why someone said they saw a helicopter on site earlier:
We were told the production began working in the area about two months ago, seemingly building a soundstage in one of the warehouses (as lots of jungle and forest greenery was seen on location). This is almost assuredly in a different building than the vehicle department pictured, and is likely where they are filming today (though perhaps the buildings are attached). Whatever is happening there remains a mystery, but hopefully J.A. Bayona or someone else involved with the production will give us official details soon!
Until then, check out the rest of the images below, and keep your eyes peeled to our social feeds for updates!
Hold on to your butts! We’ve just learned (via a now deleted Twitter post) that Jurassic World 2 (under the working title ‘Ancient Futures’) will begin filming this Thursday (February 23rd, 2017) at the Langley Business Centre! The business center that will be home to filming is situated in Slough, a large town in Berkshire, England which is about 20 miles away from London. The owners of businesses in the center were sent letters from the production, preparing them for the upcoming filming – take a look below!
Filming appears to be for 1 day only – however the letter says 11 more days are planned in the same location on to-be-determined dates in the future. It sounds like it will be a more simple, abbreviated shoot, with no mention of prep work – simply some larger vehicles showing up on-site Wednesday, the 22nd. Also of note, the letter confirms filming will continue well into June, and is not ending at the start of the month.
Unit 7 Langley Business Centre
The fact that this is filming for only one day, only to later resume filming at the same location sometime in the future is a curious affair. Normally, the locations needs will be shot all at once, to minimize travel and setup complications. That fact that they are isolating a 1 day shoot in a location they plan to later return to must be for a good reason, and perhaps the reason is the talent and content involved. If a key actor needed to film some early scenes, which were to be referenced throughout the rest of the shoot, it may be important to lock them in first. However, if the actors schedule was tight and they had other commitments, they may need to split the shoot like so. It may just be wishful thinking on my part, but the name ‘Jeff Goldblum’ keeps sounding off in my head…
This news is incredibly exciting – Jurassic World 2 aka Jurassic Park 5 is finally about to start filming! Will the production share photos or videos from the first day of shooting, and will we finally get the official title of the upcoming sequel? I’m not holding my breath, but I am still hopeful, and fully expect some images to surface from the shoot! Until then, let’s all admire how cool the working title ‘Ancient Futures’ looks on the letterhead!
Stay tuned – additional news, including more about this shoot, is surely inbound! Jurassic World 2 films at Pinewood Studios in London, as well as Minley, Surrey, Hawaii, and Breacon Becons, Wales!
Finally our speculation about BD Wong’s return as Dr. Henry Wu in the upcoming Jurassic World sequel can be out at ease. After months of coyly denying his involvement, and only a hint that he may return from Frank Marshall, BD Wong took to Instagram to seemingly confirm his involvement in Jurassic World 2 with a bang (or should I say roar?).
This picture is tagged to Pinewood Studios – the very place where Jurassic World 2 will be filming, and home of its current production offices. As far as I can tell, the Velociraptor in the picture is one of the 1:1 busts created by Legacy Effects for Jurassic World (this very one being Blue if I am not mistaken). While it’s possible it represents a Velociraptor in Jurassic World 2, I think it’s simply a really cool prop making its home in the production offices.
Bust of Blue made for Jurassic World (2015) by Legacy Effects
I’m thrilled that we can finally rest knowing BD Wong will return as Dr. Henry Wu – he is perhaps the character I am most interested in learning more about, and I know other fans feel similarly. He joins Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Ted Levine, Toby Jones, and Rafe Spall in the highly anticipated Jurassic Park sequel.
Just where did Dr. Wu go at the end of Jurassic World?
Jurassic World 2 is expected to begin filming in just two weeks, so stay tuned as more news is sure to come!
In just two weeks time cameras will start rolling at Pinewood Studios for Jurassic World 2. Actors are beginning to show up in London to start principle photography on the sequel, with newcomers James Cromwell and Ted Levine having just been announced.
Minley Manor
We recently heard a rumor that added another filming location (Harrow, London) to the list, and now we have received some substantial information that puts the area of Minley, Surrey in the spotlight. The location is roughly an hour’s drive from Pinewood Studios, and permits for filming and set building have been awarded to the production.
We first received an email with some information on sets being constructed on “Army Training grounds” in Minley, leading us to this location, which has been used previously for films such as The Avengers, Stardust, and Die Another Day. While we’ve learned Jurassic World 2 won’t be filming at the Manor itself, after receiving more information and corroborating filming/construction permits we were able to determine that the film will be utilizing the surrounding area of Hawley Common, and the former Pyestock Jet Engine test site.
Hawley Common will be used for “primary set build, filming and support areas, including parking and unit base.”Filming at Hawley Common is set to begin on Tuesday 18th April and will wrap on Tuesday 2nd May, with construction and deconstruction taking place before and after. The breakdown for set build and sequences is as follows (refer to above picture for reference):
Location 1 (lower location): Set construction at the western end of the hardstanding, consisting of rear elevation of a house. Scripted action to involve an approach from the east by vehicles and cast on foot. Cast subsequently flee in response to a dramatic event. Scene to be modified by VFX in post production. [may use atmospheric smoke machines]
Location 2 (upper location): Set construction at south east end of location, comprising elements of the front elevation of a house. Dressing in front of set (including vegetation props) to create grand approach to imagined structure. Vehicles are seen arriving at the location. Scene to be modified with VFX in post production. [may use atmospheric smoke machines]
They will also be filming only at night nearby at the former PyestockJet Engine test site (Hartland Park, Bramshot Lane, Farnborough), which consists of one large set, a basecamp, and a helicopter landing zone. The breakdown is as follows (refer to picture above for reference)
This set build space contains 4-5 set structures, the tallest being 11 meters high. These structures will primarily be used as backdrop for filming activity. Helicopter landing zone is attached adjacent to structures. Scene involves use of a Bell Huey Helicopter and wind machines.
From the information we have discovered, both sites will be used for extensive set building, heavy vehicle use, heavy lighting use, and green screen usage. The Hartland Park locale is fairly open, though we imagine the sets will be locked from easy view via security measure. The site at Hawley Common is an MoD Army Training Area attached to the Royal Engineers Gibraltar Barracks, and the surrounding area contains numerous hiking/bike trails open to the public. Anyone walking those paths may be able to see some filming activity, which is always cool!
Pyestock filming location
While it is unclear exactly what they will be filming here – especially considering we know absolutely nothing about the plot (and I do hope it stays that way!) – we have been informed that there will be extensive vehicle movements during the different phases of filming. Peak levels “include 150-200 cars, shuttle busses and 20-25 lorries.” Locals eager to catch a glimpse of the production should look out for vehicles from Pinewood Studios, or signs referring to a production called ‘Ancient Futures’!
What do we take from this information? Nothing, really. Set building on large, open sites is not uncommon and is often cheaper than using the sound stages at nearby studios. Due to Star Wars using a large number of the Pinewood stages, it’s unclear how much access Jurassic World 2 actually has at the site, which would lead to them utilizing nearby land. Jurassic World built the Main Street set in the parking lot of the abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans, and used plate shots of Hawaii to replace the background (see below).
In somewhat related news, Jurassic World Spain uncovered a photo that actress Daniella Pineda posted – and then swiftly deleted – which possibly hints at the new title for the sequel. Her thumb covers the word after “Jurassic” in the gift card, although it’s likely the word was either World or Five. I guess that means Jurassic Thumb is confirmed.
Stay tuned for more news and information and be sure to follow us on Twitter!
Following the addition of Ted Levine only 6 days ago, the Jurassic World 2 cast continues to take shape, adding James Cromwell to its impressive roster. This news was broke first by The Hollywood Reporter, who provided no further details on the role he will be playing.
(Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Humane Society)
James Cromwell is perhaps best known for his role as Warden Hal Moores in ‘The Green Mile’ though many may also know him from his Oscar nominated role in ‘Babe’ as Farmer Arthur Hogget. His past lineup of films and television shows is nothing short of impressive, from ‘L.A. Confidential’, ‘I, Robot’, and ‘Deep Impact’ to ‘ER’, ‘The Young Pope, and ‘American Horror Story’, in which he earned an Emmy for the latter.
There are no details about who he’ll be playing, or if he’ll be ‘good’, ‘bad’, or somewhere in between – but make no mistake that whatever role he’s playing, he’ll do fantastic job! Not much is known about InGen or Masrani Global, but I could see him heading either company after the passing of John Hammond and Simon Masrani. Time will tell, and we’ll be sure to keep our ears open for more details.
James Cromwell joins Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ted Levine, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Toby Jones, and Rafe Spall. BD Wong is also heavily rumored to return, though has yet to be formally confirmed. The newest Jurassic park sequel starts filming soon in London – in fact, much of the cast are already onsite and living in their trailers!
Are you excited by this latest news? Sound off in the comments below, and stay tuned! We may have a new filming location scoop coming your way soon…
As Jurassic World 2 gears up to film in just a few short weeks, the upcoming sequel has shown no signs of slowing down when it comes to adding cast members. Variety just exclusively revealed that Ted Levine has joined the cast, though have no details on the role he will be playing.
Ted is a fantastic actor, with a large pedigree of projects under his belt, perhaps best known from his role of the troubled and twisted ‘Buffalo Bill’ in ‘Silence of the Lambs’. Some of Ted’s other films include ‘Shutter Island’ and ‘American Gangster’ and has also had staring roles in TV shows such as ‘Monk’ and ‘The Bridge’.
Ted has played a variety of roles, and can play a fantastic pessimist – whether he’s filling an antagonistic role remains to be seen, but I certainly could imagine him spearheading InGen’s exploits. On the contrast, I could see being quite outspoken against dinosaurs and perhaps even filling an Malcolm like role. A third option that occurs, however unlikely, is that he may be filling and recasting the shoes of Lewis Dodgson – something long awaited since the first Jurassic Park film.
Ted Levine joins Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Justice Smith, Toby Jones, Daniella Pineda, Rafe Spall and BD Wong. The fifth Jurassic Park film has already amassed a fantastic cast, but the story remains shrouded in mystery. I’m pleased that nothing has leaked, but I do hope Universal roars in with some official details soon.
Are you excited with the cast so far? Sound off in the comments below, and stay tuned for the latest news!
When you’re part of a team for a website like this one, you hear lots of interesting rumors. Some end up being true, lots end up being false, and plenty end up somewhere in between. We usually apply a filter to what we end up sharing online, it’s not our wish to ‘scoop’ the production, or more potently, spoil the story. However, sometimes interesting news comes in that isn’t a spoiler of any sort, but rather just an update on the happenings of the production.
We’ve all heard Colin Trevorrow and J.A. Bayona say that animatronic dinosaurs would be featured more heavily in the upcoming Jurassic World sequel, and likely all assumed the same franchise alumni would be involved in creating them. However, a couple of months ago we heard an interesting rumor that Legacy Effects would likely not be involved with the Jurassic World animatronics – this was surprising to us, as Legacy essentially is the studio that did the practical FX for each Jurassic film (in actuality Stan Winston Studios did Jurassic Park – JP3, but when that studio closed after Stan Winston’s passing Legacy was formed by the key members of the old team).
Neal Scanlan & an assortment of practical FX from Star Wars The Force Awakens
Upon further digging, we heard that in fact Neal Scanlan’s ‘Star Wars Creature Shop’ team would be heading the animatronic front this time around. We sat on this news for some time, and within a few weeks of learning it saw a new update to the Jurassic World sequel on IMDB – Neal Scanlan had been added. Now this was hardly confirmation, as essentially anyone can edit the IMDB page, but as the Neal Scanlan rumor had not gone public it did pique our interest. The probability of this tipoff was looking more credible, especially when you look at the circumstances practically.
Jurassic World 2 is operating primarily out of Pinewood Studios, London – this studio is also home to the ‘Creature Shop’ of Neal Scanlan and the numerous talented artists he enlists. It would make sense for JW2 director J.A. Bayona to work with a team close to the base of production, as it would make overseeing and collaborating with their work all the easier. Further, animatronics are usually used in a studio setting rather than on-location, and moving the work from Legacy in California to Pinewood in London would certainly be an added expense. Logistically, it makes sense, and once you look at Neal Scanlan’s pedigree with the recent Star Wars outings it all falls nicely into place.
Our suspicions were mostly substantiated when certain ‘Star Wars Creature Shop’ artists confirmed their involvement in the upcoming sequel. For the sake of anonymity, we aren’t going to publish – while these were done publicly, we’re unsure if the studio would react negatively (it’s not our intention of causing any internal conflict simply due to people being excited about their new gig). However, this certainly is exciting news, as the practical FX work done on ‘The Force Awakens’ and ‘Rogue One’ is nothing short of fantastic – but the news is also bittersweet.
Assuming the first part of the rumor about Legacy not being involved at all is true, this is a bit of a bummer. This will be the first Jurassic Park movie artists such as John Rosengrant have not worked on, and the sudden passing of the torch was not expected by myself. Of course, there is a chance that Legacy Effects is still involved in some capacity – we have reached out to the studio for comment, but as of this time have not received a reply. (It’s worth noting that IMDB lists several Legacy Effects artists, but as previously pointed out IMDB is not the most reliable for these matters.)
With that in mind, if the team behind the animatronics had to change, Neal Scanlan and the Star Wars Creature Shop team would be my first choice. They’re loaded with incredible talent and enormous passion, and I think they have done phenomenal things on the new Star Wars films. That said, their more complex creations seem to favor more fantasy humanoid designs, and something like dinosaurs for the Jurassic Park franchise would be a huge change in style. I imagine they’re entirely up for the challenge, but I do hope they’ve had ample time to prepare, and blow away audiences once again. While I feel a pang of sadness to hear that Legacy will likely not be involved this time, I won’t deny that I’m incredibly excited to see what the new team creates – until then, here’s a few videos on how the animatronic Jurassic Park dinosaurs were made!
Are you excited for the team behind ‘The Force Awakens’ creatures to tackle the Jurassic World sequel animatronics? Sound off in the comments below, and as always stay tuned for more news!
With cameras set to start rolling in less than a month, it’s no surprise that we’re beginning to hear of more locations getting the confirmation that they’ll feature in the sequel to 2015’s Jurassic World. A few days ago a Spanish website confirmed that Brecon Beacons in Wales was a location, and we already know that the islands of Hawaii will be utilised for filming, along with Pinewood Studios in London.
But now we’re hearing that another location in London – outside of Pinewood Studios – is apparently being eyed by location managers for the sequel. Dijeirusan reported on Facebook that the area of Pinner, Harrow in North West London has been scouted by location managers.
“I had Harrow Council Planning Department visit my house, to approve my new extension. They saw my Jurassic Park collection, and said the filmmakers were scouting Pinner (an area in Harrow) for filming”
He went on to say that they didn’t have any other information to offer other than that. The area of Pinner is described as a wealthy area of the London Borough of Harrow in northwest London.
Without any further information we have to take news like this with a pinch of salt – and it’s unclear in exactly what capacity the area of Pinner might be used. Due to its relatively short distance to Pinewood Studios, it’s a logical location for the production, and it may even be that they’re only shooting an interior location here, which could stand in for anywhere in the world. This in no way confirms that the actual city of London will feature in the sequel – but at this point, it could.
Either way, this little rumour is reminiscent of the days before social media, when internet message boards and word of mouth were the main source for film news. Council Workers liking the look of someone’s Jurassic Park collection and handing out some information sounds like it was pulled straight out of 2002! Huge thanks to Dijeirusan for sharing!
Have you heard any rumours about filming? Shoot us a message and we’ll devour it.
With Jurassic World set to begin filming next month at Pinewood Studios in London and later heading to Hawaii to film on location, we often wonder if there are any other filming locations on the list.
In July of last year we heard that Wales was being considered for the sequel and assumed that the Pinewood Studios situated there was being eyed for studio use. However, the following week we heard that the production team had actually expressed interest in the lush countryside of Brecon Beacons.
While it was never fully confirmed that this location was on the agenda, and as time went on we began to hear less about it, we now have received some form of confirmation that Jurassic World 2 will utilize this landscape.
Director J.A. Bayona was recently interviewed with a Spanish magazine about his latest movie, A Monster Calls. While he couldn’t speak in detail about Jurassic World 2 with ‘magazinedigital‘, he did confirm that the upcoming sequel will indeed film in Brecon Beacons, Wales.
It is unclear at this point in time how the location will be used, as it’s possible that these valley landscapes seen above may stand in for a location on the islands, but with filming set to take place in Hawaii this seems unlikely. Will dinosaurs have reached the mainland in some form? Did Masrani have another facility here?
Give a listen to our latest podcast episode where we recap on all of the latest casting news, the Jurassic World: Survivor video game, the filming locations, as well as a new interview with Chronicle Collectibles:
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below and as always be sure to follow us on Twitter for round the clock news and information!
The Jurassic Park franchise has never been known for cameos and bit parts for celebrities, but that may be changing with the latest casting rumour. We Got This Covered is reporting that world famous DJ Dimitri Vegas has landed a role in the sequel.
Yesterday, the DJ tweeted a photo of himself with producer Frank Marshall with the caption: “Meeting with one of my heroes today @LeDoctor #JurassicWorld”
Frank Marshall later retweeted the photo with his own caption: “DJ Master Frank meets with one of his heroes. Who knows where this will lead?”
While the tweets don’t mention casting, the website’s source revealed that Vegas and Marshall did indeed meet to discuss a role in the sequel. With this information in mind, it’s interesting to note #JurassicWorld and “Who knows where this will lead?” in their tweets.
The photo itself also appears to be taken in the Kennedy/Marshall offices; the photographs behind the pair can be found on the Kennedy/Marshall website.
According to the article, Dimitri Vegas (real name Dimitri Thivaios), has recently signed with CAA and is hoping to break into the industry as an actor. Their source claims that he wouldn’t have a large role in the sequel, and without any acting experience under his belt that’s probably a safe option. However, judging by the positive messages both he and Frank Marshall tweeted, it’s likely the meeting went well.
Could Dimitri Vegas be joining Daniella Pineda, Justice Smith, Toby Jones, and Rafe Spall as newcomers to the Jurassic franchise? While we have no official confirmation, with everything considered above it certainly seems likely.
Oh, and Dimitri also picked up Chronicle Collectibles The Lost World: Jurassic Park T-Rex bust, and there’s a Jurassic Park sequence in one of his music videos (skip to 00:55):
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
