Kevin Winter/Getty Images(LONDON) — When Jurassic World: Dominion became the first major studio film resume production last month following the COVID-19 shutdown, it came at a price: upwards of $9 million, according to The New York Times.

According to the paper, cast and crew in England have to follow a 107-page safety manual, and added expenses include renting out an entire hotel for the shoot’s participants for 20 weeks, as well as conducting some 18,000 COVID-19 tests. 

Star Bryce Dallas Howard tells the paper, “Until now, actors were not really included in prep. But in order to get any of us on a plane, we had to thoroughly understand the protocols, who was involved and hear second and third opinions. We are the guinea pigs who are going to take the leap.”

Among those protocols is dividing the Universal Pictures film’s 750-person crew in half, with those essential to shooting being dubbed the “Green Zone” and the rest performing their duties off-set.

Sets are fumigated every day prior to shooting, and the actors’ chairs are spaced out with orange cones to enforce social distancing. Some 150 hand sanitizing stations were also installed, the paper details.

Howard wasn’t incorrect with her “guinea pig” analogyL the Times notes that as production ramps up on the Avatar sequels in New Zealand and the Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in Australia, other studios are looking to Jurassic World: Dominion as a pandemic safety production model going forward.

Jurassic World: Dominion, also starring Chris Pratt, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern and Sam Neill, is set for a June 11, 2021 opening.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.