Jurassic Park 4 Gets New Screenwriters

Universal Pictures has taken a(nother) step towards making a fourth "Jurassic Park" film by hiring screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver to pen the script. The pair most recently worked together on the original screenplay for Rise of the Planet of the Apes and will adapt the Pierre Boulle novel La Planète des Singes as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, tentatively scheduled for release in 2014.

Steven Spielberg is expected to co-produce this fourth film, though he won't be directing it.

We have somewhat ambivalent feelings about continuing the film series/franchise. The first film, Jurassic Park, adapted from the 1990 thriller by Michael Crichton, remains one of our all time favorites, but the second was a disaster — no pun intended — and the third just so-so. We definitely think there's a continuing story to be told here, so will be looking forward to seeing how the project progresses.

(Related article: Deadline.)