The end of the Jurassic World era is upon us once Dominion hits theaters. It doesn’t feel like it was too long ago since audiences first stepped out of the theater during the 2015 film's opening weekend, but here we are. The trilogy closer recently wrapped production after an onslaught of COVID-19 related hurdles throughout the year, but we’ll have to wait one year and half before seeing it on the big screen. Even with that wait in mind, the production has already been recognized for an exciting award.
Over in the U.K. this week, the 2020 Production Guild of Great Britain (PGGB) Innovation Awards were held to offer praise for those working behind the scenes in movies and television. Jurassic World: Dominion was the first major studio movie to get back to work this year following shutdowns brought on by the pandemic. Therefore, the production won the PGGB Innovation Award for its leading contributions to creating safety protocols and for working with a huge team of workers in the British country with its set of unfortunate circumstances. Samantha Perahia, the Head of Production for the U.K. at the British Film Commission, said this:
The Jurassic World: Dominion team were genuine trailblazers. The worldwide production community was watching as theoretical COVID-19 protocols were put into action. Their real-time experiences were invaluable in helping inform and refine industry COVID-safety guidance. Their work paved the way for other major features and the team fully deserves this special recognition.
As Variety reports, the award went to Jurassic World: Dominion because the production (headed by Universal Pictures) apparently went to work to research the best practices for restarting production during an unprecedented time and gave about 1,000 productions workers jobs. The cast and crew were placed in a bubble together for four months and even traveled to Malta in the middle of production to get all the coverage they needed.
The shoot took 40,000 COVID-19 tests and was able to wrap with more than enough time for post-production to begin, though following that release date delay. But given everything the production went through, this is all still very impressive.
Dominion picked back up in the summer of 2020 after packing up in March but did face another short stall in production due to a few positive COVID-19 cases within the bubble. Writer/director Colin Trevorrow said that the initial shutdown did end up benefiting the movie, though, and he believes having everyone together in the circumstances will make the movie “stronger."
The latest Jurassic installment will notably feature the returns of Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern, the original Jurassic Park trio in important roles, along with Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jake Johnson, Justice Smith, BD Wong and Omar Sy. Jurassic World: Dominion is set for theatrical release on June 10, 2022.
