Last week, a report surfaced that claimed Jurassic World 2 will start shooting at the end of February in Hawaii, where last year's blockbuster Jurassic World was filmed. That report was never confirmed or verified by the studio, and it wasn't known if that was the date principal photography would start, or if that's when pre-production would begin. Today, producer Frank Marshall confirmed this report, teasing that shooting will start next spring.

While Frank Marshall didn't confirm the exact filming date of February 27, 2017 in his interview with Collider, he did state that pre-production is currently under way. The producer revealed that he just got back from a meeting with director Juan Antonio Bayona, while confirming that filming will take place in Hawaii once again. Here's what he had to say below.

"We're in pre-production, in fact I just got back from London from meeting with [director] Juan Antonio [Bayona] and the production designer. We're designing, he's doing storyboards, and we're in full pre-production to start shooting sometime early next spring."

Even before Jurassic World was released last summer, director Colin Trevorrow revealed he would not be back to direct. He did come back to co-write the script with his Jurassic World collaborator Derek Connolly, with Universal Pictures' chairman Donna Langley teasing in November that the writer is planning a full trilogy with executive producer Steven Spielberg. When asked if Juan Antonio Bayona has taken over the writing process at all, Frank Marshall had this to say.

"No, as a director Bayona has his input but Colin and Derek are writing the script, so there have been numerous meetings and we have the template for the movie, but of course he's putting in his own ideas and taking ownership of it, but it's pretty much the same story that they originally came up with."

Jurassic World broke The Avengers opening weekend record at the box office with a whopping $208.8 million, although that was later shattered by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We'll have to wait and see if Jurassic World 2 can top the $652.2 million domestic and $1.5 billion worldwide haul of Jurassic World when the sequel hits theaters on June 22, 2018, but it's clear that the pressure is on to deliver a bigger and better movie, in terms of the story, the action and even the dinosaurs themselves. Here's what the producer had to say below.

"I think we have that pressure both on Bourne movies and on Jurassic movies [Laughs], we set the bar pretty high. For me it's always a bout story, as long as the action sequences move the story forward, that's what's important, and I think just having to look and see how we can involve the characters in the story with whatever dinosaur we have in the action sequence. So, it's a challenge but a healthy challenge."

Colin Trevorrow has teased in the past that the sequel will involve weaponized dinosaurs and take the story off of Isla Nublar from Jurassic World. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have been confirmed to return as Owen and Claire, but no other stars from the original have been set to come back quite yet. Stay tuned for more updates on Jurassic World 2 as we get closer to production starting next year.