Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) might be raking in hundreds of millions at the box office, but the franchise's identity feels like it’s hanging on by a thread.
Once focused on the awe and terror of real dinosaurs brought back from extinction, Jurassic now seems more interested in cooking up monstrous new hybrids — and leaving the classics behind. The latest offender? The Distortus Rex, or D-Rex for short.
A snarling horror show of a creature built from pieces of a T-Rex, a Rancor (Star Wars), and a Xenomorph (Alien) is the main dinosaur antagonist in the latest film, which is the seventh installment in the series. Sounds cool, right? And yet, the movie barely uses it.
The D-Rex Isn't in Jurassic World Rebirth All That Much
The film, directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Scarlett Johansson, follows a group of mercenaries and scientists as they head to InGen's third abandoned island, Ile Saint-Hubert, where dinosaurs hold the key to a drug that will save millions of lives. But standing in their way are mutants that have been allowed to roam free in the jungles.
While the D-Rex was a huge part of the film's marketing, it barely appears in the latest sequel. Save for an opening sequence set 17 years ago to show how the Ile Saint-Hubert lab was destroyed, and a third-act sequence where the team encounters the mutant dino, the D-Rex has no real presence. Instead, the film chooses to focus on all the non-mutant dinosaurs, such as Quetzalcoatlus, Mosasaurus, Spinosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The D-Rex Has Already Returned to Jurassic World
But fans haven't been completely robbed as the D-Rex has now turned up in “Jurassic World: Alive”, the augmented reality-based mobile app game. However, its sudden reappearance also sparks a bigger question: Is this what the franchise is now?
Rebirth promised to leave genetic hybrids like the Indominus Rex from Jurassic World (2015) and the Indoraptor from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) behind, and yet the franchise's original dinosaurs are still getting benched in favor of more freakish dinos. Sure, it sells toys and it brings something new to the table, but is it really the Jurassic way?
There’s also the Mutadons — the new film's other abomination that's described by the film's screenwriter David Koepp as a cross between a Velociraptor and a Pteranadon.
Related: ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Is a Mess—But Two Upcoming Sequels Will Fix It
Future Jurassic Films Will Probably Feature More Mutants
Will future films even bother with raptors or stegosaurs? Or will every new entry going forward introduce a creature more grotesque than the last? Only time will tell. Jurassic World Rebirth has already grossed over $400 million worldwide against its $180 million budget, so another sequel is almost guaranteed.
Either way, the future of Jurassic seems less “life finds a way” and more “maybe life shouldn't find a way”.
Rebirth is out in theaters now. It stars Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Endgame), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer), Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi), and Mahershala Ali (The Green Book).
Do you think the Jurassic franchise has lost its way? Let us know in the comments!
