As you probably already know, Avatar: The Way of Water will come out at the end of this year. However, the logo won’t be in the same Papyrus typeface as the original. Instead, John Roshell at Swell Type was commissioned to create a new typeface for the upcoming film.

They have written about the process on the Swell Type blog, which is a relatively short, but fascinating read nonetheless. I was initially surprised that a new typeface was created, instead of the logo being designed. But when you think about how many places this typeface will be used—the film, websites, marketing, social media, etc. it makes sense.

Talking about the new typeface itself, I think it suits Avatar very well. It has a clear evolution from Papyrus, but adds a bit more character.

I’m now going to be hyper-aware of this typeface whenever I see anything relating to Avatar, but I wonder if normal people will notice anything different?

I just come across a video by Jonathan Burdett, a YouTuber that predominately creates video essays on blockbuster films for his channel, Films&Stuff. In the video I watched, he talked about the original Jurassic Park movie and how it looks better than the sequels.

As you’d expect, it comes down to various factors. However, I found it curious as to why the sequels weren’t at the same level. I would think that the sequels would build on the skills learned from the first movie, but clearly there was something missing.

That’s not to say they all the sequels are bad. But, when I think about it, if I had to rank all 5 current films, there probably would be a downward trend. As a rough estimate, if I could give each film a score out of 10, this is what it would look like:

I like all of them. But the first three are massively better than the Jurassic World films. I’m still holding out for Jurassic World: Dominion though. Because that looks like it’s going to explore a whole new perspective, not just the same idea of a dinosaur park being made, then turning out to be a bad idea.

I watched Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom today, seeing as it’s now on Netflix. After it finished, I immediately searched online to see if there were any sequels being planned, or if I’ve just missed a release entirely.

Well, of course, there is a sequel being planned for release in 2021, I just forgot about it. It’s Jurassic World: Dominion. So nothing I could watch right now.

But I did noticed something new on the Jurassic Park Wikipedia page. Last year, a short film was released called “Battle at Big Rock“.

It is a very short film. All together, including credits, it’s just over 10 minutes. However, I see it more as a glimpse into what we will expect to see in Dominion. Especially as it was directed by Colin Trevorrow, and written by Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael, and they are also the director and writers of Dominion.

The film is set after Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and as you may remember, that ends with the dinosaurs ending up on the US mainland. Which is something that we’ll have to adjust to seeing, in future films¹.

But for now, all we’ve got is Battle at Big Rock, and luckily it’s on YouTube: