Universal hires ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ writers for ‘Jurassic Park 4’

Universal Studios is ready to add to one of its most successful franchises, Jurassic Park. The studio is finally starting to get the wheels moving on a fourth film, over a decade after the third film was released, and has hired a pair of screenwriters to work on it.

Deadline first reported on Wednesday that Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver have been picked to pen the script. The two previously worked on last year’s acclaimed hit, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Fans of the franchise have known for a year that Steven Spielberg was working on how to make another film based on novelist Michael Crichton’s concept of cloned dinosaurs coexisting with humans, notes Cinemablend. In June 2011, there was a report that Spielberg was working with I Am Legend screenwriter Mark Protosevich, but it looks like Protosevich is no longer involved.

Like Jurassic Park III, Spielberg will not be directing the fourth film. Instead, he will produce with Kennedy/Marshall’s Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.

The Jurassic Park franchise started with the original 1993 film, which was based on Crichton’s novel and was a massive hit. In 1997, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, based on Crichton’s sequel novel, was released. It was also a massive hit at the box office, but earned less than glowing reviews. Jurassic Park III was released in 2001 and was directed by Joe Johnston. That film was critically panned, although it still made $365 million worldwide. In total, all the films have made $1.9 billion.

Universal will be re-releasing the first film in 3D on July 19, 2013, which the studio can use to gauge just how much interest there is left in the franchise.