From the beginning, it seems the trailers for Jurassic World have been shooting for a nostalgic vibe with a number of nods to Steven Spielberg‘s original movie. According to Yahoo! Movies, director Colin Trevorrow revealed that those callbacks to the 1993 film are on purpose because Jurassic World is essentially a direct sequel to Jurassic Park:

Of course, Jurassic World isn’t a mere re-creation of Jurassic Park; it’s a direct sequel to the original, set some 20 years after the events of Spielberg’s film. (According to Trevorrow, the previous sequels aren’t being written out of continuity so much as placed to the side, as they both unfolded on a different island.) In that time, a functioning theme park has been constructed on Isla Nubar, overseen by operations manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and employing hundreds of staffers, including velociraptor trainer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt).

Let’s be honest here, placing both previous sequels to the side is not a bad decision. While The Lost World succeeded in delivering some sense of fan-service, Jurassic Park III was just a downright awful film. Ignoring the storylines from those films will hopefully help Trevorrow recapture the essence of the first film. The director seems driven, too, as his goal is not only to pay tribute to the 1993 movie, but also to Spielberg himself:

“I felt like I had a responsibility to do it,” he explains. “Mostly for Steven, in thanks for all he’s done for all of us and how much his movies meant to me in my childhood. But also, if one is asked to do this, it’s almost insulting to everyone else to say no. We’d all love this privilege — to be able to re-create a film that meant so much to us.”

Jurassic World is set to hit theaters on June 12.

(Via Yahoo! Movies)