More Details on Battle At Big Rock and Jurassic World Alive

Late last month, we reported on a development in the Jurassic World Alive mobile AR game that has interesting connections to another recent development in the Jurassic World landscape. A new patch brought two new as-of-yet-unseen creatures in Jurassic World Alive - the mobile AR game based on the Jurassic World canon. These creatures were Allosaurus Gen 2 and Nasutoceratops (images below).

Now, there are a few details you need to know to follow this train of thought. First - Ludia, developers of Jurassic World Alive, uses images from the movies in the game (such as Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard) which points pretty clearly to some kind of licensing agreement with Universal (in addition to the rest of the original hybrids and original dinosaurs from the newest film franchises being used in the game -- like Indominus Rex, Indoraptor, Blue, Charlie, Delta, Echo etc..)

Second, while Ludia has a few Jurassic Park/World games, Jurassic World Alive has stayed pretty mainstream in the canon of Jurassic World. Sure, they've used dinosaurs not in the films, and hybrids that never appeared, but the big campaigns they've run have all been chiefly film related. On the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, there was a deal struck with AMC to offer up a free Epic Incubator (a $20 value in game) for anyone who showed up to an AMC theater (presumably to get their tickets to Fallen Kingdom). They've also held themed events for the Jurassic World and Jurassic Park movies. And it's hard to put it into words, but there's just a focal point on the creatures specifically from the Jurassic World movies.

Third, it is rare that Ludia releases new creatures in the data that aren't also in the game. A few exceptions exist, but it's not exactly common. And these creatures were released in this patch via the code but not in the game at all (beyond the few people who were matched with AI versions and called it out).

Fourth, a line of Mattel toys appeared out of nowhere (with no explanation) a month or so prior to the Jurassic World Alive patch including these very same two dinosaurs (Allosaurus and Nasutoceratops) under the branding of Jurassic World and header of "The Battle At Big Rock." But what is The Battle At Big Rock? And what does it have to do with the film franchise?

Around this time, filming in Ireland began for something Jurassic Park/World related, and a few sources from Ireland were talking about the filming. It had been rumored already that the final installment of Jurassic World 3 had not yet completed scripting and that the film itself wouldn't come out until 2020-2021, so the rumors around Ireland filming something related were odd. Word started getting out that it was possibly a short film. And now the Jurassic Park Fandom community has shared more details - that while unsubstantiated seem to fall in line with a theory we had.

User Carnotaur posted the following on the Battle At Big Rock:

• The short will be released on August 1, and will play before Hobbs & Shaw. (The new Fast & Furious movie)
• Animatronics will be used.
• It is currently being filmed in the forests of Ireland.
• An adult Allosaurus and a Nasutoceratops will appear.
• An original JP character will star in the short(Henry Wu?).
• Finally, by using several of the facts previously mentioned, we know that it is likely, that it will be post JW: FK.

If all of this is true -- based on what we know about Ludia and the Jurassic World Alive game -- we believe this Battle At Big Rock may be some kind of short film to set up Jurassic World 3 in the downtime between now and the release of the film. It would especially seem reasonable and true based on two completely separate franchising agreements from two companies with no relationship (Mattel and Ludia) both separately throwing their weight behind these two particular dinosaurs and what they mean for the franchise.

All in all, we're really excited to see where this goes. And we'll keep you up to date as more details come up.

In the meantime, be sure to check out our Jurassic World Alive wiki by hitting the link below and stay up to date with all the related JWA news.