Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom's End-Credits Scene Is One Of The Weakest Ever

Warning: SPOILERS for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom!

Like most blockbuster films nowadays, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has an end-credits scene, but it's a weak one that tells fans nothing new and doesn't stoke the desire to return for the third chapter of the trilogy.

The J.A. Bayona-directed blockbuster continues the franchise reboot begun in Jurassic World by Colin Trevorrow, who co-wrote Fallen Kingdom and will direct Jurassic World 3. Trevorrow's master plan revolves around bringing the dinosaurs into the real world to cause havoc while shady military forces and rogue governments seek to weaponize the dinosaurs. To accomplish this, Jurassic World 2 severs its ties to Jurassic Park by destroying the island of Isla Nublar and the theme park it contained. The dinosaurs are brought into the United States where they are auctioned off (at shockingly low prices). However, one pivotal dinosaur, the Mosasaurus, escapes into the ocean long before the island is destroyed by a volcanic eruption.

In the end, the 11 species of dinosaurs are released into the wild by the films' heroes Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), and Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon). Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ends with a montage of the dinosaurs invading Northern California and points beyond: the T-Rex finds its way into a zoo, the Velociraptor Blue finds a small town to terrorize, and the Mosasaurus begins eating unsuspecting surfers near an undisclosed beach. All of this occurs as Jeff Goldblum reiterates his dire warnings - which he's been saying since 1993 - and welcoming everyone to what's now a Jurassic World.

There are so many strands for Jurassic World 2's end-credits scene to play with, but it winds up being a huge letdown. The clip shows that the Pteranodons have flown to Las Vegas, landing at the top of the Eiffel Tower on the Strip. The implication is the winged dinosaurs are now about to attack the unsuspecting Vegas vacationers and chaos will ensue.

The problem here is that there's nothing new in that stinger: the Pteranodons debuted in Jurassic World III in 2001, terrorizing the humans led by Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill). They were then a huge part of the chaos in Jurassic World; flocks of them were released when the Indominus Rex crashed into their Aviary and they attacked the human guests of the park - one Pteranodon memorably snatched Claire's assistant Zara (Katie McGrath) into the air and both were eaten by the Mosasaurus. The implication in the end-credits scene is that the Pteranodons will now start doing the same aerial snatch-and-grabs to people in Vegas, but fans have seen it all before, and the threat is so slight.

The Pteranodon after-credits scene was likely chosen to illustrate "how far" the dinosaurs have managed to travel - they made it all the way to Vegas! Except this is totally undercut by the montage closing the film that some of the living dinosaurs and the embryos purchased at auction have made it to different parts of the world - therefore "all the way to Vegas" doesn't seem that impressive anymore.

A much better choice for the end-credits scene would have been the moment the Mosasaurus emerged from beneath the waves and went after the surfers. Colin Trevorrow was frustrated that this shot was spoiled in the trailer and, in this case, the filmmaker is right; it's arguably the film's most powerful visual of a dinosaur loose in the world. Not only should this eye-popping moment have been kept under wraps, it should have been swapped so that the Pteranodons in Vegas was part of the ending montage.

The Mosasaurus hadn't been seen since the opening scene of the film, so this would have that unnerving extension effect: nature is really fighting back. Considering how much Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom wants to set up Jurassic World 3, it's a major missed opportunity.

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