Category: News

As reported last October, Jurassic World: Dominion will be filming on the Mediterranean island of Malta. Today it was announced by Malta film commissioner Johann Grech that the 6th film in the Jurassic franchise will be heading to the island at the end of August.

Various locations around the island will be used as part of the shoot including Valletta, Vittoriosa, Mellieħa and Pembroke. Stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt and Sam Neill are among those expected to be on the island for this portion of filming. According to Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli, Dominion is just one of nine international productions expected on Malta this year.

“Starting with Jurassic World: Dominion, other multi million projects will follow with huge investment in our economy, creating more jobs for anyone working in the film industry in Malta”

Also slipped into the article from Times Malta, they indicate that Dominion’s production budget is €200 million, which would equal almost $235 million. While that number has yet to be officially announced and verified, that would be a tremendous investment from Universal Pictures into their most profitable franchise. For comparison, Jurassic World’s budget was $150 million and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s budget was $170 million.

What is your opinion on Malta being used as part of the filming for Jurassic World: Dominion? Let us know in the comments below!

Everybody remain calm.

If you’ve been on social media this evening, you’ve probably seen some distressing news. According to The Sun, ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ had halted production after several crew members test positive for COVID-19 – however we can confirm this report is inaccurate.

As soon as this news began circulating, we reached out to Universal Pictures for comment who were able put our worries to rest, and had the following to say:

“Any reports indicating that Jurassic World: Dominion has halted production are categorically untrue. The production is headed into its fifth day of shooting tomorrow, and we’re thrilled to be back in front of the camera on this incredible project.”

‘Dominion’ is the first major Hollywood production to resume filming after halting production for several months due the ongoing global pandemic. Promising to take safety first, the production reportedly put a 5 million dollar plan into effect which included social isolation where possible and testing for crew members.

It’s worth noting that Universal’s comment does not say whether or not crew members actually tested COVID positive, however some cases among crew seem inevitable. No matter how many precautions are put into effect at Pinewood Studios and on set, the crew still return to their personal homes and lives when not working. This means being around roommates, family, and significant others who are likely being exposed to less controlled environments – not to mention needing to go grocery shopping, travel to and from work, and more.

With that in mind, this is why it’s important for the production to put so many safety protocol in effect, and test frequently. Assuming the report that some crew members did test positive is true, it just means their detection safety net is working as intended. However, it’s also possible that nobody on the crew tested positive at all, as the other information from The Sun was not correct.

Either way, ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ remains on track to continue filming, and with any luck we may see new photo updates from Colin Trevorrow soon. Until then, stay safe, wear a damn mask, and stay tuned to Jurassic Outpost for all the latest news.

In an exclusive interview with Empire, director Colin Trevorrow discusses how the lockdown has affected Jurassic World: Dominion’s shooting schedule, and gives detail into the process of getting the movie filming again.

Colin also confirmed that the scenes filmed earlier this year in British Columbia, Canada were mostly dinosaur sequences, meaning those scenes could still be worked on remotely during the lockdown.

“For many of us, Dominion was already the biggest creative challenge of our lives, before the lockdown. The shooting schedule really worked to our advantage – the first four weeks we put to film were mostly sequences with dinosaurs in them. So that allowed us to get a head start on VFX and workshop some of the newer elements without the pressure of a looming deadline,”

Last month we reported that filming would resume on July 6 and that various safety measures had been put into place to ensure cast and crew protection while returning to work.

Despite those new guidelines ensuring safety for those working on the film, Colin noted the challenge of actually establishing a world that is separate from the current social distancing world we live in.

“I’m confident our guidelines will keep us safe. The hard part will be constructing a creative environment within all the precautions. Once the cameras roll, we have to forget our world and live in the world of the movie. That may take some practice.”

At the beginning of the crisis Colin reassured the cast and crew that they would continue making the movie soon.

“I’ve been really moved by the way everyone has shown support for each other. We’re all fired up to get back to work. This is what we do, and we’re all eager to get back out there and do it.”

Jurassic World: Dominion is the first major production to resume filming since the lockdown began, and begun filming yesterday at Pinewood Studios. Universal and Pinewood are abiding by strict guidelines to ensure the maximum safety of those involved with the production.

The full interview with Colin Trevorrow can be found in this week’s edition of Empire Magazine, available on July 9.

How do you think Jurassic World: Dominion will be affected by the new safety measures? Let us know in the comments section below!

Universal Pictures have confirmed that Jurassic World Dominion is set to resume filming at Pinewood Studios on July 6, making it the first major studio movie to re-start filming after the Covid-19 pandemic shut productions down worldwide.

Deadline have reported that the studio and filmmakers have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to get the production back underway, and the production team have been implementing rigorous safety protocols for when the cast and crew return to the set.

A two week pre-production period will begin next week, leading up to the cameras rolling on July 6.

A production executive detailed the situation:

“The plan is for us to be shooting early-mid July,”

“Anyone with symptoms will be isolated immediately before being sent home, we want to make sure that we are going above and beyond the national protocols to create a safe environment. Cost isn’t our main concern now: it’s safety. We will take direction from our medical team, but we’re confident that with the staggered scheduling and zones of talent and crew, along with a system of contact tracing, we can move forward with limited delay in production.”

Universal Pictures have worked with the British Film Council and U.S. unions to ensure the production of Dominion meets the required safety standards, and they are believed to be spending around $5 million to ensure thousands of tests for the remainder of filming, with all cast and crew required to be tested before returning to the set, and then multiple times during filming.

Dominion’s set will have on-site doctors and nurses with isolation booths, 150 hand sanitizer stations, anti-viral ‘fogs’ used at night, endless safety signs and all cast and crew will be trained. Masks will be mandatory to wear other than when the actor is performing.

Actors attached to the project who aren’t UK based will be travelling back to the UK soon in time for the production to restart, and director Colin Trevorrow has been ‘instrumental in planning and getting buy-in from the cast and crew’, who obviously were a little concerned about returning to a country that has been hit hard by the Covid virus, but spirits remain positive.

The main question we have is will there be a release date delay to make up for the three or so months of lost time? The Universal production executive noted that they can move forward with a “limited delay in production” but we are uncertain how that will affect the film.

Many large-scale animatronics were mid-development when the production shut down and those animatronics require crews in close proximity to operate. Will Dominion re-work scenes to be more reliant on visual effects than practical? We certainly hope this isn’t the case and would rather the studio delayed the film’s release date to provide accurate time for the production to catch up.

Further, sticking to the release date after months of delay means a tight schedule, which could lead to these animatronics never being finished and entirely replaced with a VFX option.

We’ve spoken to numerous visual effects artists who all say the same thing: meeting the demands of this film means massive compromise – sets, actors, extras, dinosaurs and more will go VFX wherever possible, even if it would have been previously unwarranted and unwanted. The looming deadline means massive crunch with long hours, and realistically cannot be achieved with the quality expected out of Jurassic without massively expanding the films budged and bringing in more effects houses to collaborate. Ultimately, this is untested territory and unfortunately will effect the films original vision in unique ways, something we will be looking to understand further in the future.

Will the production be able to use the footage shot in Vancouver, BC for the couple of weeks earlier in the year, or will they need to re-shoot those scenes?

Either way this is exciting news and hopefully we will hear more soon! Head to Deadline to read the specific details of Universal’s protocols for filming, and be sure to let us know in the comments section below what you’re most excited to see in Jurassic World Dominion.