'Jurassic Park 4' will arrive in theaters June 13, 2014, Universal announced on Friday. Steven Spielberg won't be directing this time around, but he is going to produce the project with Frank Marshall.
Universal has yet to pick a director for the fourth installment of the dinosaur film franchise, which it plans to shoot and release in 3D. The studio and Spielberg have converted the original film to 3D and it will be a re-released in theaters on April 5. Spielberg was very involved in the conversion according to executives at the studio, trying to ensure it merited a theatrical re-release.
The three movies have grossed close to $2 billion worldwide to-date with the original film alone making $914 million. Based on Michael Crichton's novel and characters, the film has also spawned an amusement park ride at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Spielberg, who this week postponed his next directing job in "Robopocalypse," directed the first two films before handing off the third to Joe Johnston. He confirmed at Comic-Con in 2011 that a writer was working on a new version, divulging little more. Giving the film a release date firms up the time table as Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver work on the script.
"Jurassic Park 4" will open in a summer already teeming with sequels. Universal has scheduled it one week before the next "How to Train Your Dragon" and two weeks before the next "Transformers." Both the final "Hobbit" movie and the next "X-Men" movie are set to open in July while the next "Spider-Man" and "Planet of the Apes" films will debut in May.