The new Jurassic story is coming to alive this September 18 on Netflix — in animated form!
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‘Jurassic World’ Gets an Animated Series ‘ Camp Cretaceous’ on Netflix
Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous
Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous is a new CGI animated series from DreamWorks Animation, Universal Pictures, and Amblin Entertainment. The eight-episoder premieres September 18, Friday. Camp Cretaceous has Colin Trevorrow as one of its Executive Producers alongside Steven Spielberg. Trevorrow directed Jurassic World and co-wrote its 2018 sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. He is also directing the third installment Jurassic World: Dominion, the final film in the Jurassic World trilogy scheduled for theatrical release in 2021.
The 8 episode Netflix original animated series is set within the Jurassic World timeline and follows a group of six teenagers trapped at a new dinosaur adventure camp. We chat with Colin Trevorrow to learn more about the latest addition to the dinosaur franchise.
From being tapped as the director of Jurassic World, you’re now executive producer of the animated series. What is it like being entrusted with these responsibilities? And what is it like being part of this iconic franchise?
Colin Trevorrow: I feel very fortunate that I’ve even been able to play in the sandbox at all. And now that I’ve been doing it for many years, it’s really something that’s become a part of my life. And it’s been a really huge part of not just my career, but of my life, you know, with my family. So much of it has been defined by this responsibility to make sure that this legacy lives on and is respected, and that we recognize where it came from. I see myself as a bit more of a gardener, like I’m tending to this garden, I did not plant it. And I’m a custodian of this, and I’m very sincere in how grateful I am for all of it.
What’s the story behind the creation of this first ever animated series of the franchise?
We recognize that we only make one of these movies every three years and we put a lot of time and heart and care into them. And if you’re a kid, and you know, you’re six years old, and you love Jurassic World, three years is or have your life. And it’s a long time. And so we wanted to be able to make something that kids could go to and get that effects and have the experience with dinosaurs that they love so much at home, you know, without that having to wait for us.
Camp Cretaceous is set within the Jurassic World timeline, after the 2015 film. Does this mean the concept for the series was already in the works as early as 2015? How early was the concept already brewing for an animated series?
It wasn’t as early as 2015, because we didn’t know whether the film was going to be successful or not. I tend to make no plans until the audiences asked for more. But once we started heading toward the second film, this idea came up. And we felt like it was an opportunity since we were planning out the second film and the third film in detail together, to find a way to weave this into the story that we were building. At the same time retroactively weaving it into Jurassic World, so you see a lot of scenes and moments that we know are happening alongside the events of that movie. And so it was just a really fun exercise to be able to revisit someplace that I never thought we would get to go to, again, because we destroyed it! [laughs] And then also, you know, create something that is going to really feel like a complete part of the story in the future, when all is said and done.
You decided to go the animation route this time. What are the challenges that you face doing animation compared to live action?
The challenges of animation, honestly, I think the challenge is always to create characters that feel like real people. And that goes for live action as well. But you know, in animation, the characters can be so expressive but have the kinds of struggles that young kids really go through. And there’s the challenges of being alive in the modern world is something that we really wanted to make sure to infuse into this. So it just wasn’t only a fun show. It was something that means something to young people.
