Jurassic World Dominion director, Colin Trevorrow, explains that the extended cut of the film is the real version. Twenty-nine years after the release of the original film, Jurassic World Dominion concluded the story that began in 1993. Although the film was not received well by critics, as it is currently the lowest-rated film of the Jurassic Park franchise on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie proved popular with audiences, pulling in over $1 billion at the box office to make it the second-highest grossing film of the year behind Top Gun: Maverick.
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With Jurassic World Dominion's recent release to home media last month, fans were treated with an extended edition. Fourteen minutes of excised footage were reinserted into the film to bring the movie's runtime up to 160 minutes. The extended edition features more scenes with the legacy cast from the original Jurassic Park, reinserts the original prologue sequences, and expands on many character arcs.
In an interview with Empire, Trevorrow shared his thoughts on the Jurassic World Dominion: Extended Cut, calling it the real version of the movie. The director admits that it was a challenge for him to release the theatrical cut as he felt that the scenes that were removed from the final film compromised the movie's quality. He reveals that the extended edition was intitially the final version of the film until the producers demanded that 14 minutes needed to be removed. Read what Trevorrow had to say below.
It was challenging for me to release this movie, because [the theatrical cut] wasn't the film that I made. To be able to have the film that I made be released in its original state, I recognise how rare that is, and I'm so grateful to Universal for doing it. […] The Extended Edition is the movie we had up to a pretty late point. And then the directive came down: "We need to get it under two-and-a-half hours." I don't see it as an Extended Edition. I see the movie that came out in theatres as the Abbreviated Edition.
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There are things that I'd cut out [while making] the Extended Edition, so I had already been judicious. I felt like it had reached its balance. That moment with Alan Grant, I found crucial. And when I watch it without, it feels like the characters are almost running to catch up with the movie or it's gonna get away from them. If you're looking at it solely as a relationship drama, those things would be crucial – but when you're looking at the context of a giant dinosaur movie, you could see how people would be like, "Well, that's an easy lift." As a film student, and even as a filmmaker, watching director's cuts is always really educational – it's often more educational about the director. This is a really rare scenario, because it's about what was taken out. It comes down to – what can be lifted without damaging people understanding what's even going on? But it takes out all the life, it takes out the way it feels.
Why The Jurassic World Dominion Extended Cut Is the Real Version
Trevorrow explained that the Jurassic World Dominion: Extended Cut is the original version of the movie, the one he initially intended to deliver to audiences. Through the use of his restored footage, he completes the narrative that he originally wanted to tell when the film was released. Although the movie did not receive high praise for its characters and its locust-centric plot, the extended edition at least gives the audience additional time with the characters to complete their arcs creating a more satisfying conclusion for both the Jurassic Park legacy characters and the newer Jurassic World characters. This can clearly be seen with its extended scenes between Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) which show to a greater effect how their relationship has changed over the years and the feelings Grant still holds for her.
Directors are rarely offered a chance to go back to their films to edit a second edition of a movie in hopes to deliver sell their true completed version of the story. It costs studios a substantial amount of money to allow the filmmakers this indulgence with their hope in recouping the value in sales later on. However, there have been many director's cuts of film that have greatly improved on the original releases. Ridley Scott removed the unnecessary voiceover and reinserted several scenes into Blade Runner to give the characters and themes more depth. Zack Snyder went back to Watchmen to add additional scenes of central characters to further complete his faithful adaptation of the iconic Alan Moore comic. Jurassic World Dominion: Extended Cut may not change the minds of the film's critics, but it gives audiences Trevorrow's real version of what may be the final film of the Jurassic Park franchise.