Jurᴀssic World Rebirth director Gareth Edwards was worried that one of the most exciting scenes in the film would feel like it belonged in the Indiana Jones franchise. Edwards has evoked Spielberg in several of his previous blockbusters, but Jurᴀssic World Rebirth allowed him the chance to actually inherit a franchise that was started by the legendary filmmaker.

Releasing 32 years after Spielberg’s original Jurᴀssic Park movie, Rebirth is meant to start a new era for the franchise. Unfortunately, reviews for Jurᴀssic World Rebirth have been quite underwhelming. However, in Rebirth, it’s quite entertaining to watch Scarlett Johansson’s Zora Bennett and her team try to retrieve DNA samples from the largest dinosaurs of the land, sea, and air.

About halfway through the film, the characters in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth have to retrieve the DNA from a Quetzalcoatlus, the largest flying dinosaur. This requires them to scale a mᴀssive cliff which appears like it was once the home of an ancient civilization. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Edwards admitted that he was worried the signs of the civilization were too reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark and other Indiana Jones movies. Read his comments below:

I couldn’t figure out how to do a cool set piece on the edge of a cliff because I just felt like there’s not much real estate. If the [dinosaur] comes back, I don’t know what you could do to hide. I thought, well, maybe we could get away with a cave or carving in the edge of the wall, like there was an old civilization that used to live here. Once you are in Central America, that means it has to be an Inca civilization. Then once you start doing Inca iconography, you suddenly go, ‘Hang on a minute. This is Raiders of the Lost Ark.‘

In the same interview, Edwards revealed that Frank Marshall, who produced both Jurᴀssic World Rebirth and Raiders of the Lost Ark, immediately noticed the similarities. However, the entire crew loved the set and the remnants of the ancient civilization remained in the movie. Edwards continued:

[He] walked onto set and said something like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is certainly familiar,’ I didn’t know if this was good or a bad thing, but I just looked at all the faces of the crew, and they were beaming. I kept waiting for someone to tell me, ‘No, don’t do that.’

What This Indiana Jones Similarity Means For Jurᴀssic World Rebirth

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Honors Steven Spielberg

From the beginning to the end of Jurᴀssic World Rebirth, it’s obvious that Edwards was heavily inspired by not only the original Jurᴀssic Park movie, but Spielberg’s other films. In addition to the Quetzalcoatlus scene, the Mosasaurus scene in Rebirth makes audiences immediately think of Jaws, another Spielberg classic.

The character’s encounter with the Mosasaurus and the Quetzalcoatlus make for two of the best scenes in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth. Therefore, even though the Quetzalcoatlus scene is reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark, that should not be seen as a negative at all. If anything, the signs of an ancient civilization make the island in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth much more interesting.

Our Take On Jurᴀssic World Rebirth’s Similarity To Indiana Jones

Jurᴀssic Park & Indiana Jones Are Both Great Franchises

Jurᴀssic Park and Indiana Jones are two of the most successful franchises of all time. In some ways, these franchises are very similar since they both honor the history of our world. The Indiana Jones franchise deals with hidden artifacts and ancient civilizations, whereas the Jurᴀssic Park series obviously highlights dinosaurs, which walked this planet long before us.

When thinking about the two franchises in this way, it actually makes perfect sense for Jurᴀssic World Rebirth to pay homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Indiana Jones series. Therefore, I’m glad that Edwards and all the producers working on Jurᴀssic World Rebirth chose to keep this exciting sequence in the movie.

Source: Vanity Fair