Jurassic Park is still considered one of the sci-fi classics, but with Jurassic World: Dominion closing its gates, another of Michael Crichton’s novels, Micro, has the potential to be the perfect franchise successor. Although Michael Crichton died in 2008, his sci-fi works are still among the most adapted in Hollywood, with current titles including HBO’s Westworld and the animated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. However, one of Crichton’s final novels features one of the author's biggest stories ever, and its adaptation could carry on the adventurous terror of Jurassic Park.
After Crichton's death, a number of his novels were found unfinished, and among them was Micro. In the tradition of Jack Arnold’s sci-fi movie classic The Incredible Shrinking Man and the Steven Spielberg-produced Innerspace, Micro follows a group of students shrunken to a half an inch after uncovering a conspiracy involving the morally dubious Nanigen Micro-Technologies. Getting lost in the jungles of Oahu, they have to find a way to secretly unshrink themselves while facing giant arthropods, microscopic mercenaries, and all the dangers that come with suddenly being demoted to near the bottom of the food chain.
In 2015, DreamWorks announced that a film adaptation of Micro was in development with Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg attached to the project. With Jurassic World: Dominion supposedly heralding a conclusion for its franchise after almost three decades, this seems like a proper successor to what Spielberg began with the Jurassic movies. Although nothing could ever truly compare to the original Jurassic Park movie, a similar adventure from the same creators might help fill the dinosaur-shaped crater left behind by the franchise. Additionally, with its themes, ideas, and pulse-pounding action, as a thriller, Micro could be the return to form that’s been lacking since the first Jurassic Park.
What Steven Spielberg’s 1993 movie did for dinosaurs, Micro could do for insects, arachnids, and the microscopic world, delivering the right amount of horror and wonder. There is a sequence involving bats that mirrors Dennis Nedry’s death at the hand of the Dilophosaurus and the protagonist's confrontation with a giant Hawaiian centipede is reminiscent of the T-rex in Jurassic Park. Meanwhile, creatures like leafhoppers and millipedes remind audiences that these are real and extraordinary animals, like the Brachiosaurus and Triceratops. Michael Crichton described Micro as a “fun” and “informative” experience, directly comparing it to Jurassic Park in those respects. Additionally, with Spielberg adapting another Crichton story, Micro would have some of the core talent responsible for the Jurassic Park franchise's success and iconography.
Marketed as “the epic conclusion to the Jurassic era,” Jurassic World: Dominion, seems to lay the series to rest. Although it's uncertain if the Jurassic World trilogy will really officially end the movies, between its divisive reviews and reunion of original cast members to bookend it, Jurassic World: Dominion should be the last one. Whether it’s because of how far removed the films became from the original or because seeing Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill again made for an apt ending, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to shutter the aging gates of Jurassic Park. Yet that doesn’t mean the adventure needs to end. With time and the right talent behind it, Micro could be the next big thing in cinema. Nothing can replace the Jurassic Park series, but perhaps it’s time to close the book and start another.