'Jurassic Park 4' gets a release date

Universal revealed the release date for the fourth film in the 'Jurassic Park' series.

After years of rumor and speculation about a fourth film, fans of the Jurassic Park franchise understandably wondered if the dinosaur saga was truly extinct. However, Jurassic Park 4 finally got some legs when Steven Spielberg met with writer Mark Protosevich to go over story ideas a couple of years back, and the project really started to take off when the studio hired the husband-wife writing team of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver to pen the screenplay about six months ago.

Producer Frank Marshall revealed some details about the long-awaited fourth film a few months back and said that it “will be on the big screen within two years.” Well, now we can officially say he wasn’t kidding, as Universal finally announced the film will release on June 13, 2014.

According to The Wrap, the studio made the highly-anticipated announcement Friday and added that the film plans to shoot and release in 3D. Of course, fans of the franchise will get a tasty sample of that experience when the acclaimed Jurassic Park is re-released in 3D on April 5, 2013.

Although the project has a script in development and an official release date, it has yet to attach a director. Spielberg, who directed the incredible original adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel and the not-as-great sequel, was the first and most obvious choice. However, as we learned about a year ago, he is not up for directing JP4 and was instead working intently on 2013 Best Picture nominee Lincoln–which he is also nominated for Best Director– and the sci-fi thriller Robopocalypse, which was recently put on hold. However, he will serve as a producer along with Marshall.

Jurassic Park 3 director Joe Johnston was also being discussed to take over directorial duties for the fourth film, and although nothing has been confirmed on that front, he did reveal that the newest incarnation would take the franchise in an entirely different direction. The film will obviously have to touch on the history of the previous three, but it will almost assuredly involve brand new characters and and a new story.

With no director and no cast members on board at the moment, there is plenty of uncertainty as to how exactly the film will come together, but we can safely assume that Universal will put a sizeable investment into JP4 and considering the advancements in effects technology since the third film, the visual aesthetics on the fourth will certainly be vastly improved–not to mention that it will be in 3D!

So, it’s finally happening. Mark your calendars and set a date to check out Jurassic Park 4 when it hits theatres on June 13, 2014.

Daniel Johnson blogs at Screen Rant.