'Jurassic World 2' news: J.A. Bayona hired as director

Jurassic World sequel release dateUniversal Pictures

"Jurassic World 2" will be produced by the first film's director, Colin Trevorrow, who has since moved on to helm "Star Wars: Episode IX." However, executive producer Frank Marshall now confirms that the studios have found someone to take his place and it will be "The Impossible" director J.A. Bayona. 

Marshall made the announcement via Twitter and this was later supported by Trevorrow as well, with the latter posting on Twitter: "Proud to collaborate with one of my favorite filmmakers on the next Jurassic adventure. JA Bayona, it's all yours."

As stated in the report from Collider, Bayona's resume in terms of big Hollywood films is quite limited with only "The Orphanage" and the upcoming "A Monster Calls" as his major projects. He also directed the Ewan McGregor film "The Impossible" and did work on the horror series "Penny Dreadful."

The director was initially set to helm "World War Z" but dropped out of the project and it was assumed by many that he would be picked up for "Jurassic World 2" since Trevorrow had moved on to direct the final "Star Wars" film, a prediction which proved true.

"Jurassic World 2" is currently being penned by Trevorrow and screenwriter Derek Connolly, and according to the report, it is likely that the sequel will be unable to match the box office success of the first film but this is mostly attributed to the fact that sequels rarely ever do and not as a detriment to what Bayona may bring to the table.

There are no words yet regarding what the second film will be about, although many fans speculate that the embryos stolen at the end of the first film may have been used to spread the technology across the world, allowing each country to have their own military force of bio-engineered dinosaurs.

"Jurassic World 2" will also see the return of stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. The film is scheduled to be released on June 22, 2018.