Movies

‘Jurassic World’ sequel production suspended after positive COVID-19 tests

Vice Chairman of Universal Parks & Resorts and President of Universal Creative Mark Woodbury, President and COO of Universal Studios Hollywood Karen Irwin, Vice Chairman of NBCUniversal Ron Meyer, Chairman and CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts Tom Williams, Producer Frank Marshall, Director Colin Trevorrow, Actors Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt and the velociraptor character named Blue pose at the "Jurassic World - The Ride" grand opening celebration at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park in Universal City, California, July 22, 2019. (REUTERS/Danny Moloshok)

Production of “Jurassic World: Dominion” from Universal Pictures has been suspended for two weeks after a few people on the set tested positive for COVID-19, director Colin Trevorrow said on Wednesday.

“All tested negative shortly after, but due to our safety protocols we’re going to pause for two weeks,” Trevorrow wrote on Twitter.

Filming on the dinosaur adventure movie resumed in England in July under stringent protocols for the cast and crew to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Production had been halted in mid-March because of the pandemic, which shut down movie and television sets around the world.

Trevorrow did not identify who had tested positive on the movie, whose stars include Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.

The suspension was the second known stoppage on a major Hollywood movie. Production was shut down for two weeks in early September on the Warner Bros. movie “The Batman” after a person, reported to be star Robert Pattinson, tested positive for COVID-19.

Universal Pictures, part of Comcast Corp, announced Tuesday that the release date for “Jurassic World: Dominion” was being pushed back one year to June 2022. Movie studios have been reshuffling dates and postponing film releases as the industry tries to recover from the global shutdown of cinemas in March.

Reuters