One key detail from Jurassic World Rebirth makes me want a crossover with the Halloween franchise. The movie, which stars Scarlett Johansson and is being directed by Gareth Edwards from a screenplay by David Koepp, will be the seventh installment in the long-running Jurassic Park franchise. The iconic series of dinosaurs-run-amok blockbusters kicked off with the 1993 Steven Spielberg movie, adapting the Michael Crichton novel of the same name, and by the time of writing the three Park movies and three World movies have cumulatively grossed more than $6 billion, becoming the eleventh highest-grossing movie franchise of all time.

The Halloween movies, on the other hand, kicked off even earlier, beginning with John Carpenter's original slasher classic in 1978. At the time of writing, there are now 13 theatrical installments in the horror franchise in a multitude of continuities, though the majority of them focus on the exploits of notorious serial killer Michael Myers, many times following his relentless pursuit of his intended victim Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), who is his long-lost sister in some continuities. While this is seemingly unrelated to the dinosaur blockbusters, the Jurassic World Rebirth strikes an unusual connection between the two franchises.

Jurassic World 4's Dr. Loomis Character Creates An Unexpected Halloween Connection

Jonathan Bailey Plays The Incoming Jurassic World Character

A recent breakdown of the Jurassic World cast revealed that Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey will be playing a paleontologist named Dr. Henry Loomis. So far, no further details are known about the character, but his name provides an unusual connection to the Halloween franchise, as one of the main characters alongside Michael Myers and Laurie Strode is Dr. Sam Loomis. Dr. Loomis is the psychiatrist who worked with Michael Myers in the sanitarium as a child and spends the majority of his adult life chasing down the serial killer and attempting to stop his rampages.

Multiple actors have played Dr. Loomis in Halloween, with Donald Pleasence playing the role in five of the first six movies, Malcolm McDowell taking over the role for two movies in the Rob Zombie remake continuity, and Tom Jones Jr. and Colin Mahan recreating the body and voice of the late Pleasence for a flashback sequence in 2021's Halloween Kills. Overall, the character has appeared in eight of the sprawling franchise's 13 movies, falling just behind Laurie Strode's total of nine appearances including Scout Taylor-Compton's stint in the role in the Rob Zombie movies.

Dr. Loomis did not appear in 1982's Halloween III: Season of the Witch because the movie is an anthology story about an evil maskmaker that is not directly in continuity with the rest of the franchise.

I know that the name Dr. Sam Loomis does not exist in a vacuum, as the Halloween character was named after Marion Crane's lover Sam Loomis in 1960's Psycho, and the surname was later borrowed for Skeet Ulrich's character Billy Loomis in 1996's Scream. However, Psycho's Loomis was a hardware store owner and Scream's Loomis was a high school student, so the presence of a Dr. Loomis in Jurassic World Rebirth would still seem to give it a direct connection to Halloween over either of those other iconic horror franchises.

A Jurassic & Halloween Crossover Movie Is Actually Possible

Licensing Might Not Present An Issue

While it is not a guarantee, a Halloween and Jurassic crossover is not entirely out of the question. From the beginning, the Jurassic Park franchise has belonged to Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. While the Halloween franchise is owned by Trancas International Films and has been since 1985, Universal Pictures distributed the most recent trilogy of movies in the franchise, which was co-produced by Blumhouse Productions, with whom they have a first-look deal. While that collaboration with Trancas is no longer active, it is possible that future negotiations could see Universal and Trancas reteam on more installments.

The most recent update from the franchise is that Miramax acquired the Halloween television rights from Trancas and is in development on a series set in the universe.

What A Jurassic & Halloween Crossover Movie Could Look Like

The Crossover Would Be Unusual And Entertaining

While a crossover between the Halloween movies and the Jurassic Park franchise would be unprecedented, I think it has the potential to be extremely entertaining. While it seems inevitable that there would have to be a scene or scene where Michael Myers squares off against a dinosaur, the human-sized serial killer may nevertheless find himself outmatched by the prehistoric predators. While he frequently outsmarts his victims, he may not have the scientific knowledge necessary to outwit the brute strength of a T-Rex or other dinosaurs of similar size.

Thus, it seems likely that he would be used as a co-antagonist in the movie, similar to the way that Freddy vs. Jason had the titular killers from the Friday the 13th and Elm Street franchises present twin threats to the teens at the center of the movie until their showdown against one another in the third act. It seems possible that characters who survive an ordeal on one of the Jurassic franchise's islands, seeking an inland shelter as far away from islands full of dinosaurs as possible, move to Haddonfield, Illinois, where they find themselves in Michael's crosshairs.

A Crossover Jurassic World & Halloween Movie Is Probably Unlikely

The Movie Likely Would Not Work For A Variety Of Reasons

In addition to the inherent power disparity between Michael Myers and a herd of dinosaurs, there are several important reasons why it is unlikely that the Jurassic Park movies will ever cross over with the Halloween franchise. The first is that the horror series is R-rated while the Jurassic movies are squarely PG-13. Given the enormous budgets required to bring dinosaurs to life onscreen, it will be seen as a much more significant financial risk to close the movies off to the younger demographic and limit the audience just to those who are 17 and older.

The studios might take a risk on a combined IP but not a huge budget.

While the recent Marvel hit Deadpool & Wolverine proved R-rated movies can sur $1 billion, it is an outlier. A crossover between the franchises would likely only occur if both individually began to suffer significant losses, in which case the studios might take a risk on a combined IP but not a huge budget. While the character name in Jurassic World Rebirth could very well be an intentional reference to the iconic Halloween character, it seems unlikely to actually be a tease of anything that will ever come to fruition, as much as I might want it to happen.