Rampaging dinosaurs, ghostly kids, same difference right? Presumably, that’s the thought process behind hiring The Orphanage’s J.A. Bayona to direct Jurassic World 2, part of Universal’s “if it scares, who cares?” policy. To be fair to Bayona, though, the Spanish-born filmmaker done a lot more than just direct The Orphanage, even if that film did make The A.V. Club’s list of the 25 best horror movies since 2000 and so we’re inclined to talk about it a lot.
There’s the Naomi Watts/Ewan McGregor tsunami flick The Impossible, for example, which introduced future Spider-Man Tom Holland to the world. So he knows kids in peril, an essential element of any Spielberg-adjacent project. And he’s got another movie, When A Monster Calls, coming out this fall, and monsters are kind of like dinosaurs. He also had the good sense to drop out from World War Z 2, so maybe his participation is a sign of this particular blockbuster sequel’s quality. Or that there’s a ton of money involved. One of those.
[via Variety]