Jurassic World is shaping up to be one of this summer’s most promising big-screen blockbusters, but how exactly will the fourth installment in the franchise birthed by Steven Spielberg‘s groundbreaking 1993 smash dinosaur adventure Jurassic Park address the events of the lackluster (but fun in their own way) sequels The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001)? Short answer: it won’t.

According to a recent interview with Yahoo! Movies, Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow claims that his entry in the series won’t acknowledge the second and third movies. In the world of Jurassic World, they never even happened.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Director: Matt Reeves
Screenwriters: Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Cast: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, Judy Greer, Kodi Smit-McPhee
20th Century Fox
Rated PG-13 | 130 Minutes
Release Date: July 11, 2014

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is to Rise of the Planet of the Apes what The Empire Strikes Back is to Star Wars. An incredible, awe-inspiring epic; a monumental achievement in genre filmmaking and one of the year’s very best films.

Directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In), the film begins with a montage of news reports showing the collapse of human civilization in the wake of the ALZ-113 virus. Ten years after the “Simian Flu” epidemic, Caesar (Andy Serkis) governs a growing nation of genetically enhanced apes in the Muir Woods. With his wife Cornelia (Judy Greer) and son River (Nick Thurston), Caesar has established a thriving community for his species – one free of human interference.

Audiences won’t get to see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the latest sequel in the long-running sci-fi franchise, until this summer, but 20th Century Fox must surely be happy with how the anticipated film is shaping up because they have signed Dawn director Matt Reeves to both co-write and direct the next Apes adventure.

Reeves, who also directed Cloverfield and Let Me In, will share scripting duties on the third entry in the rebooted Apes franchise that was reborn with the surprising success of 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes with Mark Bomback. The original screenplay for Dawn was written by Rise scribes Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver and went through rewrites by Scott Z. Burns (Contagion) and Bomback. In addition to this summer’s smashing X-flick The Wolverine, Bomback has also worked on the scripts for Live Free or Die Hard, Tony Scott’s final movie Unstoppable, and last summer’s Total Recall remake.

Yesterday, we learned that Terminator: The Sarah Chronicles creator Josh Friedman was tapped to write the sequel to James Cameron‘s long-gestating sequel to Avatar. This was the first real sign that production was moving forward for the film.

Now comes word that Cameron isn’t only bringing in Friedman, but multiple other screenwriters to work on not one, but three sequels. Avatar 2, Avatar 3, and Avatar 4 will be shot simultaneously starting next year, and Avatar 2 will hit theaters December 2016.

We can finally put any and all Jurassic Park 4 speculation to rest as Universal Pictures has officially announced that the project has been greenlit and will be released on June 13, 2014. Of course with the 3D hype still going strong, the film will also be released in 3D.

THR’s Borys Kit was one of the first to break the news. He adds that Steven Spielberg is attached to produce and that the search for a director is now on. Jurassic Park 4 will be based on a script, written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), that was turned in this week. While the impression that the Robopocalypse delay may hint at Spielberg returning to his beloved franchise, there is nothing to confirm that he is coming back. There is also no mention of a shortlist of directors, but the report does confirm that the search will commence next week.