Summary The film, out in U.S. theaters on Friday, revives the classic sci-fi action franchise.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The dinosaurs are bigger, the rides are scarier and there s a dashing new leading pair as the main attraction: "Jurassic World" is open for business again and hoping to entice a new generation used to getting more bang for its movie buck.
The film, out in U.S. theaters on Friday, revives the classic sci-fi action franchise that began with Steven Spielberg making dinosaurs come to life in 1993 s "Jurassic Park."
But two decades on, as Bryce Dallas Howard s Claire slyly says in the film, no one is excited about seeing a dinosaur anymore. Yawn.
That s why the theme park in which "Jurassic World" is set needs to amp up the danger for visitors drawn by the adrenaline-fueled experience of getting up close and personal with dinosaurs.
Mirroring the film s attempt to reboot an old franchise with more thrills, the park has hatched a new hybrid creature attraction, the bigger, badder Indominus Rex, created in a lab from a test tube mix of dinosaurs.
But the monster has a mind of her own, and as fans of the original franchise have learned, never turn your back on a dinosaur.
"Good science fiction always holds a mirror up to current events, to our humanity," director Colin Trevorrow told Reuters.
"The Indominus Rex is a product of a desire for profit at all costs, and that very corporate need is something that can do a lot of harm and really compromise our ethics and humanity in ways that we ve seen consistently played out over time."
Made for $150 million by Comcast Corp-owned Universal Pictures, "Jurassic World" is projected to earn $121 million in its opening weekend, making it one of the year s biggest debuts, according to BoxOffice.com.
To play raptor trainer Owen, actor Chris Pratt said he embraced the "swagger" of the hero of one of Spielberg s most recognizable films: rogue archeologist Indiana Jones.
"You don t have to necessarily remake Indiana Jones to play that character," he said. "He s an adventurer, he s got a contentious relationship with the woman who s his polar opposite. This whole movie is very much an homage to Steven Spielberg s work."
Trevorrow, directing his first big-budget film, said he was eager to twist character archetypes, with Pratt s Owen initially playing a classic hero to Howard s uptight and immaculately groomed Claire.
It is Claire, however, who Trevorrow said drives the film.
"I consider her the lead but it isn t necessarily reflected that way in the marketing," he said. The film s campaign has focused on Pratt, a newly minted leading man with last year s hit film, "Guardians of the Galaxy."
"When you would imagine the traditional hero to be the one riding in on his white horse and saving the woman who s cowering with the children, we did it differently."
