After successful partnerships on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Creator, ILM once again partnered with Gareth Edwards as the director took the reins of the iconic Jurassic World franchise. Set five years after the events of the earlier Jurassic World Dominion, in Rebirth the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures across land, sea, and air within that tropical biosphere hold, in their DNA, the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.
A large amount of time and creative effort on ILM’s part was committed to the creation of a multitude of CG dinosaurs, from a bigger, more powerful Tyrannosaurus rex to the the tiny Compsognathus, the acid-spraying Dilophosaurus, the soaring Quetzalcoatlus, and the ocean-dwelling Mosasaurus. Then there were the often terrifying, genetically manipulated creatures, including the Distortus rex, Titanosaurus, and Mutadon.
Following Edwards’ penchant for naturalistic, freeform shooting, ILM presented dinosaurs that felt like believable animals living within their own habitats. Extensive location shooting in Malta and Thailand included major set pieces on the ocean and an island river. Throughout these sequences, entire sections of landscape and water were digital creations integrated seamlessly with the surrounding location plates. In over 300 shots on the ocean, some 85% were actually shot on dry land. The ILM team wrote new water solvers for a number of creative needs throughout the film.
With roughly 1,200 shots, ILM’s work on Jurassic World Rebirth was led out of the London studio with additional support from San Francisco, Vancouver, and Mumbai, as well as various partner companies. ILM’s own David Vickery was production visual effects supervisor and collaborated with ILM visual effects supervisors Charmaine Chan, Simono Coco, and Andrew Roberts.
ILM’s visual effects for Jurassic World Rebirth were nominated for an Academy Award, as well as a Visual Effects Society Award and an Astra Film & Creative Arts Award.
Jurassic World Rebirth is now available to watch on Netflix.
Read more about Jurassic World Rebirth here on ILM.com:
