This week’s episode of the IndieWire podcast “Screen Talk” dishes on all things summer movie season — which means, of course, a look at the “F1” box office this weekend and next week’s for “Jurassic World: Rebirth.” The latter film, starring Brad Pitt as an aging racer who goes on one last spin around the tracks, comes from “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski; generally upbeat reviews a strong marketing push from Apple and distributor Warner Bros. are helping push the film toward a $50 million opening weekend.
Meanwhile, on July 2 arrives Gareth Edwards’ “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” the director’s first at-bat with the franchise. This one stars Scarlett Johansson as an operative and Jonathan Bailey as an archeologist who, guided by Mahershala Ali, travel to a remote island where mutated dinosaurs have been left for dead. Back at the franchise also is screenwriter David Koepp, who also wrote this year’s Steven Soderbergh spy thriller “Black Bag,” and co-wrote Steven Spielberg’s 1993 “Jurassic Park” with Michael Crichton as well as 1997’s “The Lost World.” Koepp returns to the world of “Jurassic” nearly three decades after Steven Spielberg’s second entry in the Crichton-launched science-fiction series.
Anne talks to Koepp on this week’s “Screen Talk” episode about his return to the franchise and how to build a summer blockbuster. Their conversation echoes her earlier discussion with Ryan about what makes a good sequel: Anne finally caught up with Danny Boyle’s “28 Years Later” and loved the film for showing us things we haven’t seen before. “Ballerina,” though, from “Underworld” director Len Wiseman, is less successful and leaves you wishing for more Keanu Reeves — all due respect to Ana de Armas.