‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ Almost Featured Dilophosaurus but Don’t Expect the Deleted Scenes to Be Released
Hold on to your butts.
At long last, ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ will roar into US theaters and most other remaining major territories. After making its overseas debut over two weeks ago, fans have been eager to avoid spoilers and see the film firsthand, finally joining the conversation with those across the pond. To commemorate and promote the release, the cast and filmmakers have been continuing their rounds doing interviews with various outlets to talk about the film.
Speaking to Collider, Fallen Kingdom director JA Bayona shared some interesting information about the latest Jurassic Park sequel – most tantalizing was that it almost included a much requested fan favorite dinosaur. Collider’s Steve Weintraub prompted the question by bringing up the Mattel toys and how they featured dinosaurs not from the film, asking if any were almost included, in which Bayona responded with the following:
“Uhh – there was a scene with like a couple of Dilophosaurus, and we – we cut that scene. So we cut the Dilophosaurus from the movie in the end.”
Intriguingly, a scene with Dilophosaurus was not part of the shooting script, nor were any sequences shot during principal photography as far as I know. I’m uncertain if the scene in question was cut before filming even began, or if it was a late addition much like another sequence in the film featuring two dinosaurs fighting in the middle of the film. I would typically default to saying hopefully the release of the Blu-ray will answer these questions, but the interview with Collider goes on to say it is very unlikely.
When asked how long the first cut of the film was, JA responded that it landed around 2 hours and 45 minutes, corroborating what Daniella Pineda recently revealed in an interview. Some of this footage can be glimpsed in trailers and featurettes, though JA Bayona says that nothing very meaningful was cut – perhaps implying it was simply establishing shots, scene extensions, or inserts, and not major sequences nor character moments. The film itself certainly doesn’t need more action, in fact I believe it could do with a little less, and those cut scenes could have provided some much needed characterization and breathing room.
Whatever the cut scenes may have included, don’t expect the Blu-ray to reveal their secrets. Sadly JA Bayona confirmed that it was decided not to include them in the home entertainment release:
“We talked about it, and I think that because, with the – there was nothing really meaningful out of the film that we decided not to put deleted scenes in the Blu-ray.”
While the Blu-ray won’t include deleted scenes, I’m hopeful it dives deep into the making of the film, featuring long extended looks at the hard work that went into bringing this Jurassic World to life. The Blu-ray for 2015’s film felt lacking in deeper content, putting the focus on YouTube ready bite size features, rather than the material the fans want – but thankfully fans made their voices (and money) heard, and I’m optimistic this one will deliver where the last did not.
Circling back, while the Dilophosaurus may not have made the cut for Jurassic World 2, I feel confident we’ll finally see this beautiful but deadly dinosaur return in Jurassic World 3. It just has to, doesn’t it?
Sound off and let us know if you wish the Dilo was in Fallen Kingdom, and what you hope to see on the Blu-ray release this fall – and as always, stay tuned for everything Jurassic.
Be sure to give the full interview a watch at Collider
