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Jurassic World: Rebirth stomps into theaters this holiday weekend, looking to sink its teeth into the July 4 box office and revitalize a franchise that even the most dedicated dino-heads would agree is starting to feel a little prehistoric. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali, the seventh film in the Jurassic series unfolds on a new island where dinosaurs roam freely... and humans are prey.

While the Rebirth reviews are mixed, the movie posted a $28 million opening day, with a projected $127.5 million gross over the four-day weekend. The Rotten Tomatoes audience scores are also coming in a smidgen higher than the Tomatometer, indicating that these digitally enhanced dinosaurs continue to be a big summer movie draw.

But Jurassic still seems like a franchise in need of some fresh creative DNA. And, as it happens, a bold new direction emerged in the early 2000s from an unlikely source — Oscar-nominated screenwriter...

Following the first three Jurassic World movies, the perfect idea for Jurassic World 4 already exists, and it was originally planned to be used for Jurassic Park 4. 2015's Jurassic World arrived 14 years after Jurassic Park III, but a follow-up to the 2001 release was supposed to be much earlier, and it was a straight-up sequel instead of a reboot. Jurassic Park 4 was slated for a 2005 release with Sam Neill reprising his role as Alan Grant (via IGN). In 2002, Neill explained, "Out of all the concepts that have been created for these movies, this is possibly my favorite," but that, unfortunately, never happened.

Filmmaker Joe Johnston, who directed Jurassic Park 3, and William Monahan, the award-winning screenwriter who wrote The Departed, were both attached to direct and write Jurassic Park 4. However, they both lost interest midway through development and following that, a revolving door of writers and directors joined the development with no headway.