Jurassic World resuscitated Steven Spielberg’s beloved dinosaur franchise and spawned two blockbuster sequels, but according to Xbox creator Seamus Blackley, the film began as a video game.
In a Twitter thread that began on July 22nd, Blackley explained that in 2012 he began developing a new Jurassic Park video game at the behest of Spielberg, who was hoping to bring back the franchise. Blackley — who had created the failed Jurassic Park-themed game Trespasser in 1998 and had since begun financing games for the Creative Arts Agency — thought a new project could make up for the past “skid mark,” so he made a pitch trailer for a story called Jurassic World.
“I wrote a story about dinosaurs on Isla Sorna and the research sites escaping, and about how humans had to come to terms with the original owners of the planet,” Blackley wrote. “My thesis was that audiences wanted to KNOW the dinosaurs more than to kill them. Not monsters. Earthlings.”
Blackley continued, “We had brought these earthlings back, sentient creatures, individuals. And so we need to learn to share, even to be friends. In our game, the humans that want to eliminate the dinosaurs are the enemies. The dinosaurs become our allies. By saving them, we save ourselves.”
Spielberg allegedly loved the idea, and the Jurassic World video game went into development. But when Universal Pictures underwent a change in management, “everything was scrambled,” and the assets for the video game went toward a movie.
Jurassic World ultimately hit theaters in 2015, and the Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard-starring film kickstarted a whole new trilogy. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom arrived in 2018, while original Jurassic Park stars Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum reprised their roles for Jurassic World Dominion earlier this year.
Check out Blackley’s thread and the original pitch trailer for his Jurassic World video game below. Then, revisit our ranking of all the Jurassic Park films from worst to best.
OK, then. Here we go.
In 1995 I had just designed and shipped a game that was a big hit and made a lot of money for its publisher. I was unhappy at the developer so I took an offer from the brand new and exciting company DREAMWORKS. Yay! California!
(In 1995 this was impressive) pic.twitter.com/vwXipx0Lk5— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) July 24, 2022
I got a lot of death threats, I figured I’d never work again, and all that. I had met Bill Gates and impressed him with the physics and rendering, and so I asked him for a job. I figured I’d hide out deep inside Microsoft and vanish from history.
AdvertisementI suck at hiding. pic.twitter.com/wofNCp90VW
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) July 24, 2022
Even though I am a moron, I was good at this and for ~10 years ended up quietly financing and reserving IP ownership for developers on a lot of really successful and famous games. But finance is not my thing, and I was unhappy as hell.
Now, Steven Spielberg is a CAA client… pic.twitter.com/6FcYiiRO2a
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) July 25, 2022
One day I get a call from some guys at Universal. “Steven was thinking of restarting the JP franchise, and we thought it should relaunch with a new Trespasser.”
“I have a day job.”
“Steven will talk to the head of CAA.”
“Whaaaaaaat????” pic.twitter.com/uLgoeGYKFm
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) July 25, 2022
I wrote a story about dinosaurs on Isla Sorna and the research sites escaping, and about how humans had to come to terms with the original owners of the planet. My thesis was that audiences wanted to KNOW the dinosaurs more than to kill them.
AdvertisementNot monsters. Earthlings. And…
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) July 25, 2022
We had brought these earthlings back, sentient creatures, individuals. And so we need to learn to share, even to be friends.
In our game, the humans that want to eliminate the dinosaurs are the enemies. The dinosaurs become our allies.
By saving them, we save ourselves.
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) July 25, 2022
…who is also a fantastic person, who is the nicest guy in Hollywood. There was a movie in the works, and the cancellation of the game meant they got everything. Honestly this was the best outcome possible.
AdvertisementSo. I’m sure you want to see more; the storyboards, the amazing art…
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) July 25, 2022
…thanks for reading this whole weird thread.
— Seamus Blackley (@SeamusBlackley) July 25, 2022
