The seventh ‘Jurassic’ movie, Jurassic World Rebirth is a return to form for a franchise that was looked to be going the way of that ailing Triceratops in the Spielberg original.
Props to director Gareth Edwards (The Creator) and OG screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park) for getting back to basics. Their new action-adventure flings terrifying prehistoric critters – swimming, flying and stomping – at a brave band of under-prepared humans on a lush tropical island and pulls it off in often thrilling style.
The movie spans a range of suitably exotic locations, from New York to the Atlantic to the fictional equatorial island of Saint-Hubert, Rebirth’s answer to Isla Nublar off the coast of Costa Rica. To capture its spectacular Central American beaches, valleys and waterfalls, the cast and crew travelled to… South East Asia. Here’s where, and how, it all came together.
What happens in Jurassic World Rebirth?
Dinos may be old hat in the world at large, but humanity hasn’t given up on exploiting them for financial gain in the new movie. With a potential cure for heart disease in his sight, slippery pharma exec Martin Krebs (The French Dispatch’s Rupert Friend) assembles a team to head to the forbidden, dinosaur-laden Ile Saint-Hubert and extract the blood from three different species.
On the team are Jonathan Bailey’s paleontologist Dr Henry Loomis, an acolyte of Jurassic Park’s Alan Grant, who will provide the expertise. Providing the firepower are security consultant Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and her team leader Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), plus some extra muscle courtesy of Ed Skrein,
But a mishap with a Mosasaurus leaves them, and the shipwrecked Delgado family, ill-equipped, ashore and facing an array of fierce prehistoric beasties – including a few newbies of the ‘killer mutant monster’ variety.
Where was Jurassic World Rebirth filmed?
Unlike the original Jurassic Park, which shot its fictional Isla Nublar on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, Edwards turned to Thailand for his Ile Saint-Hubert. Also on the shooting schedule were Brooklyn, a few UK locations and sets, and one of Hollywood’s favourite water tanks. Here’s where it all happened.
The New York dinosaur encounter took place in Dumbo, New York
The movie kicks off with Martin Krebs assembling his team in New York. The corporate gun-for-hire gets stuck in a traffic jam caused by a rogue dinosaur. The scene was filmed in Brooklyn’s waterfront DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) area.
The museum scene was filmed at the University of Greenwich, London
Next stop: the work place of paleontologist Dr Henry Loomis (Bailey), a New York museum that, IRL, was actually London’s University of Greenwich.
Van Dyke’s Bar was filmed in Krabi, Thailand
Still on a recruitment drive, Krebs, Bennett and Loomis pitch up at Duncan Kincaid’s (Ali) waterside bar, Van Dyke’s, to persuade the security operative to join the mission. In the story, this sun-splashed establishment, full of Jaws Easter eggs, is found on the northern coast of South America. To film it, a derelict outdoor café was repurposed in a remote fishing village called Bah Gun.
The Mosasaurus attack was shot at Malta Film Studios
Taking a yachting holiday through dinosaur-y waters, the unfortunate Delgado family encounter a grumpy Mosasaurus in the Atlantic. Luckily, Duncan’s boat, The Essex, is on hand to rescue them – although things only get more perilous from there. Those scenes were filmed at Malta Studios’ famous water tanks. ‘Malta was one nonstop stunt,’ remembers Ali. ‘We’re working on this rig moving in different ways, getting hit with wind machines and water cannons; they made it very easy to pretend you’re at sea!’
Ile Saint-Hubert was shot in Thailand
To create the fictional island of Saint-Hubert, Gareth Edwards and his team scouted locations in Dominican Republic, Mauritius, Panama and Costa Rica (an early option for Spielberg in the 1993 movie). He settled on ‘the very primeval’ wilds of Thailand, familiar terrain from his 2023 sci-fi The Creator, with a strong lean toward the latter. ‘We sent pictures over to Steven Spielberg,’ recalls producer Patrick Crowley, ‘[and] he said, “We’re done! That’s the place.”’
📍’s essential guide to Thailand
The Ile Saint-Hubert beach shipwreck was shot at Ko Kradan, Thailand
The southern Thailand island of Ko Kradan was the setting for the shipwreck scenes, when the Delgado clan washes up on Ile Saint-Hubert. Other Thailand locations used include Krabi’s Khao Phanom Bencha National Park and Ao Phang Nga National Park in Phang Nga.
The T-rex rapids attack was filmed at Lee Valley White Water Centre, UK
This white water rapids outside of London was originally created to host the canoe slalom event at the 2012 Olympics. Thirteen years on, it was hosting a T-rex slalom as the Delgado family try to escape the jaws of one of the island’s apex predators. Shots of the rapids were blended with footage of a flooded quarry in Thailand to create one of the action set pieces of the year.
📍Here’s how to visit Lee Valley White Water Centre
The ancient temple was shot at Sky Studios Elstree, UK
One of the UK’s newest film studios, Sky Studios has hosted Paddington in Peru and Wicked in recent years. In Jurassic World Rebirth, its sound stages were used for a spectacular sequence involving a vicious Quetzalcoatlus nesting in an ancient temple, augmenting footage taken in a Thai national park. Scenes of Zora and her team abseiling into the nest were filmed in a Sky Studios backlot.
Other scenes filmed at Sky Studios include the gas station, the abandoned InGen complex, and the tunnel network below Ile Saint-Hubert.
📽️ Read out verdict on Jurassic Park Rebirth.
🇹🇭 ’s essential guide to Thailand.
