Gareth Edwards' Jurassic World Rebirth (now in theaters; get tickets here) certainly has its share of nods to the franchise's past, including the original Jurassic Park (the first two Jurassic trilogies are now streaming on Peacock ), but according to Edwards, he almost opened Rebirth with a direct reference that ended up on the cutting room floor.

The director spoke to Business Insider about the hourslong phone calls with Steven Spielberg and why he'll never make another "Star Wars" movie.

That Jurassic World Rebirth is the seventh film in a franchise started by Steven Spielberg should make at least one thing obvious. The film’s existence alone is a tribute to the iconic director. And while previous iterations have honored the filmmaker’s work in other ways, Rebirth takes things to a whole other level.

If they get really lucky, they might even get the opportunity to add their own chapter to a franchise that meant the most to them. And then there’s Jurassic World Rebirth director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla),

Jurassic World Rebirth features plenty of clever nods to previous Steven Spielberg films and the overall history of the Jurassic franchise.

[Note: This article contains spoilers for Jurassic World Rebirth .]

Jurassic World Rebirth Director Gareth Edwards Reveals His Favorite Scene: "It's Like a Joke!" Director Gareth Edwards has played in the sandbox of many an incredible franchise, including Godzilla, Star Wars, and most recently, Jurassic World Rebirth (in theaters now, click here for tickets).

Jurassic World Rebirth director Gareth Edwards was more than happy to get this useful advice from Steven Spielberg on his dinosaur adventure sequel.

Director Gareth Edwards, a student of ‘Jurassic Park,’ didn’t try to put his own spin on the franchise, but instead to emulate his hero.

Could Universal Pictures continue the dinosaur franchise in the new direction kickstarted by 'Jurassic World Rebirth'?

Director Gareth Edwards had a secret weapon while filming Jurassic World Rebirth, and he used that weapon to its full potential whenever possible.

The DNA in this new round of dinosaurs is so good, it's leading Universal/Amblin's Jurassic World Rebirth to a higher worldwide opening than previously reported, that being $322.5M worldwide (instead of $318M+) with $147.