Second, another JP2 segment was shown on the Weekend Edition of Entertainment Tonight, captured and converted by Chris.

Well, it looks like The Lost World is going to be as controversial (if not more) about the "violence-factor" in the movie than when JP1 came out, but the good news is that positive comments are already rolling in. Here's an excerpt from the Drudge Report about the May 9th screening for the press:

Universal finally let the dinosaurs out for show this weekend as LOST WORLD met its press junket. "Spielberg has created a modern masterpiece!" boldly declared one source who attended. "He's delivered raw horror!" The lights dimmed and the projector rolled Saturday night at the Hitchcock Theater on the UNIVERSAL lot: The most anticipated movie of the year revealed!

The special effects quantity of JURASSIC PARK has been squared by a factor of 10 in LOST WORLD. High marks are being given for the baby T. rex in the film, being described as pure animatronic perfection. The digital sound breaks new ground; John Williams' score is said to be one of his best.

The film opens next Friday, May 23, timed for maximum Memorial Day impact. There are hints UNIVERSAL may start the screenings on Thursday night to secure "they're lining up long" buzz.

What the critics and VIPs saw this weekend has been described as the master director's most violent film to date. Its intensity surprised some. Scenes of monster violence fill the second half of the film; shocking scenes that are bound to cause controversy and confusion among parents of young children who will be demanding in. At one point in the film, Spielberg has a big Tyrannosaurus rex chowing down a pet dog.

The film has not yet been rated by the MPAA's Classification and Rating Administration. And while it could be suggested the film would have certainly received an R rating in softer times, industry speculation has it coming in with a PG-13.

About the John Williams score (which I am almost as eager to hear as I am to see the movie itself), here's something you'll only find at Dan's LW Page: An early review of the soundtrack, by "Velociraptor", gets high marks:

First of all, the cover is gray (actually, it's about the same color as the background of Dan's site) with TLW logo in the middle. When you take the cover out, there's this wierd pop-up thing with dinosaurs and a mini shed-type building. It's pretty cool, but not worth looking at twice. The design of the CD itself is even cooler than the original JP CD IMO.

Now for the music. For all of you JP purists, don't worry. Williams left the main theme pretty much alone. A few of the tracks have a nice jungle feel to them, with bongos, whistles and so on. There's also some awesome lullaby tracks (as I like to call them). If you don't know what that is, listen to tracks #6 and #10 and the beginning of #7 on the original JP soundtrack. The lullaby tracks on TLW soundtrack are really soothing with a lot of strings, piano, and soft horns. The main JP theme is worked subtly (and rather nicely) into a few of the songs and there's a new theme that appears in a lot of the songs as well. The new theme sounds like a play off of the old one. It fits perfectly. There's one track that's very majestic, reminiscent of the original JP theme, but it's different. I think they should use it for the stegosaurus scene. There's also a very fast track with a lot of rhythm and feeling (more bongos, percussion). It's awesome. I can't wait to hear this music in the background of what is sure to be the greatest movie of this decade!!

Steven Spielberg is on the cover of Time Magazine this week (the May 19th issue), which declares "If you were Steven Spielberg, you'd be smiling too. At 50, he's the most successful moviemaker ever. An exclusive look at the man behind the mogul". The article gives a good history of his long career, and some info about JP2. Spielberg confirms (and for the 18th time on this page) that dinosaurs will indeed make it to San Diego in the film: (thanks to Sean Viall

"In the film, a T.rex does get off the island-to San Diego. "It was something I was saving for a third Lost World movie." Spielberg confides. "When I realized that I would probably leave that directing job to someone else, I selfishly wanted to see the action of a T.rex stomping down a suburban street chomping homeowners."

Talking about this San Diego thing, did you know that the first time I mentioned it on my page was right here on the "What's New" page, back on January 19th? (before Harry)

Leon reports that the total running time of The Lost World will be 2 hours and 10 minutes, three minutes longer than the first movie!

According to Barns, Jeff Goldblum will appear on NBC's Today Show on Thursday, May 22nd. Julianne Moore will be on the following day, the 23rd.

If you haven't seen it yet, Hershey has started it's JP2 promotion at full speed (at BJ's wholesale club, I saw a huge display of JP2 Hershey stuff). They are also selling some merchandise, including JP2 water bottles and shirts--most require proofs-of-purchase and some money. (pic thanks to Compy

Some more merchandise reports, thanks to James Nicholson. A "View Master Drawing Kit" comes with a special "Jurassic light" which projects images on paper for you to trace and color ($19.99). Also spotted was a JP2 activity pack with a coloring book, puzzle book, and crayons. ($10)

Small correction (for the better): The "Making of The Lost World" I mentioned yesterday on the Sci-Fi Channel will actually be aired before May 31st, actually on May 23rd (at 6pm EDT). It will also be re-aired on the 24th, 25th, 27th, 29th, and 30th. (thanks to Greedo1469)

Well, as we get closer to that special day, expect some surprises here at Dan's LW Page. The first one, starting tomorrow, will be a special "10 Days Left" animation which I made for those of you who have the Shockwave Flash plug-in for your Netscape or Internet Explorer web browser. If you haven't gotten this awesome plug-in yet, do it! It's well worth the download (it's only 167kb)

This week's Coming Attractions show on E! Entertainment Television featured the 2 minute JP2 trailer. Chris (the video guy) saw it and converted it into .MOV format. In my opinion, this has much better quality (especially the larger one) than the .MOV on the official site. If you have the time (and/or a faster connection to the Internet), check out the larger version:

Talking about trailers, a new JP2 commercial was spotted during Friday's Jay Leno. According to David Haisley, in this one, the announcer says:

Another JP2 commercial (it might be the same as the first one) was reported by "Killer", seen on Nickelodeon last night.

I've heard from a few people that one theater in particular is planning on showing JP2 on Friday, May 16th, one week before it opens around the country, and 5 days before the supposed "Limited Release"!

According to MovieLink, the Cineplex Odeon Marina Marketplace in Marina Del Ray, California were selling tickets for the 17th. However, several people called the box office, and they have confirmed that this is an error on Movielink's part, and the actual release date is the 23rd for that theater. Oh well. Thanks to Scott Smith and Victorin for the original info, and Brian Cochrane (among others) for alerting me about the problem.

Universal Studio's opened the "Islands of Adventure" Visitors Center this week. Here are some press releases, pictures, and info, about what Variety says, "will [try] to make a dinosaurs out of Mickey Mouse":

[Universal Studios] has already announced a $2.6 billion expansion of Universal Studios Florida, which will compete with neighboring Walt Disney World in Orlando... A large chunk of that expansion is the much ballyhooed Universal Islands of Adventure multi-theme park, which includes Seuss Landing, Lost Continent, Toon Lagoon, Marvel Super Hero Island and the hot Jurassic Park, replete with lifelike dinosaurs. Director Steven Spielberg is a special creative consultant to the project.... "We are going to redefine theme park entertainment for the new millennium," said Tom Williams, Universal Studios Inc.'s president and CEO at a press conference Tuesday to unveil the Islands of Adventure in Orlando.

The countdown to the park's Summer 1999 opening began in dramatic fashion with the characters arriving by colorful moving van and then tipping the sands of the largest hour glass ever constructed -- a specially engineered three-ton device standing two stories whose sands will slowly trickle through sculpted glass over the next two years.

These one-of-a-kind rides will have features ranging from dinosaurs that blink, breathe and flinch when touched to roller coasters that hurl riders upwards with the same thrust as a U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter attack jet.

• [T]he world's first duel racing roller coasters, called ``Dueling Dragons'' whose paths of metal will intertwine and whose dragon-shaped racing cars will furiously barrel towards and around each other by mere inches at speeds close to 60 mph.
• ``The Adventures Of Spider-Man'' will be the first ride in history to assimilate 3D film live-action and a revolutionary ``roving motion base simulator'' to engage guests in the famed cartoon character's epic battle against the forces of evil
• Utilizing a powerfully designed special booster thrust system, ``The Incredible Hulk Coaster'' will hurl riders upward with G-force power before sending them careening in wild-zig zags ten stories above the ground in a flying maze of intricate tracks, Byzantine paths and a complete weightless inversion 110-feet from the ground before plunging under a bridge and into two deep under trenches. Such weightless inversion has never been attempted.
• ``Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls'' will be the first water flume ride to ever send its riders plummeting 75-feet downward beneath the surface of the water.
• Jurassic Park: A full-fledged incarnation of the revered novel and motion picture, this hauntingly lifelike island will be inhabited by the most advanced animatronic creatures ever designed -- dinosaurs that will respond to the humans around them, in addition, ``Jurassic Park -- The Ride,'' featuring the steepest water drop ever built, a Discovery Center and new ``The Pteranodon Flyers'' bring ``Jurassic Park'' roaring to life.

After the preview center opened, it just so happened that "compy" was there to give his impressions and descriptions:

• The Islands of Adventure Preview Center is awesome, it was great. When you walk in they hand you a 'passport' and you walk through a series of rooms, each go with the corresponding island. The first four were kinda bland, but the fifth, Isla Nublar was, in my oppinion the best attraction at the park, and it's just a preview.
• The room had a small version of the gate from the first movie, a huge TV playing scenes from the ride in Hollywood, a gigantic mural with size comparison of varios dinosaurs, a passport stamper with a hand scanner that reads your DNA and tells you what dino your most closely related to.(cool gag, seemed real), and a giant metal door marked 'RAPTOR PEN CAUTION KEEP CLEAR' which had loud sounds coming from inside it and even banged on the door.
• Compy sent along the above picture, which is a artist's rendition of the Jurassic Park area of Islands of Adventure.

Issue #1 of Topps JP2 Comic Adaption has hit the stands, and Josh sends along the cover:

Brad (who origionlly told me about the Kodak promotion a few months ago), wanted to add that there will be a large marketing campaign for the "Find the Lost Roll" contest -- commercials (liking JP2 and Kodak) and large "stand-ups" for store displays. Also, he says that the promotional book states that a character in the film "users and loses kodak film products" (if you don't remember the origonal info, his boss said that in the movie, people find out about the dinosaurs on Site B after developing a roll of Kodak film)

I forgot to mention that official JP2 site contest is now up and running, and you can enter by first answering a quiz here (please don't e-mail me for the answers)

Click here for a chance to win tickets to an advance screening of The Lost World on May 14th, from the San Jose Mercury News.

From this week's Entertainment Weekly: The Summer Movie Preview: (thanks to Rory Payne)

Where does a seven-ton T.rex spend its summer vacation? Anywhere it wants. Of all the big-budget Event Movies lumbering toward the big screen this season, none are as anticapated as the $80 million dollar sequel to Jurassic Park that almost earned a BILLION dollars wolrldwide. But after wowing audiences with state-of-the-art dino-effects the 1st time around, what can Speilberg do for an encore?"The challenge of the first movie was to make people believe that dinos really exist,"says screenwriter David Koeep, who penned both scripts."Now we've got to make the dinosaurs dance."

The plot involves a 2nd dinosaur-infested island - Isla Sorna, or Site B, which was somehow overlooked in the first film - and 2 rival human groups that descend upon it. The bad guys, led by Howard(Arliss) want to capture and exploit the creatures. The good guys attempt to protect and study them. Goldblum reprises his role as Ian Malcom, who's fallen on tough times since his last Jurassic adventure(whadda ya know:His colleagues don't believe his dinosaur-that-got-away stories and think he's a crackpot.) Attenbrough returns as millionaire John Hammond; and, of course a slew of new creatures making their big screen debut, joining some of the old prehistoric faces.

Look for Jeff Goldblum on the Late Night with David Letterman on Friday, May 16th. Also, Goldblum will be guest hosting Saturday Night Live next week. (thanks to Susan)

And talking about Television shows, Robert Horan reports that Goldblum will be hosting a special "Making of The Lost World" show on the Sci-Fi Channel starting May 31st at 12pm

Attention Chicago JP Fans: Watch "FOX Thing in the Morning" Monday 7-9 a.m., and you can win some Lost world tickets! (thanks to Russell Raymond)

Kasparov vs. Deep Blue - Game 6 - The final game, today at 3:00pm (EST). The match is tied 2.5 to 2.5, watch it live here!

• Many parts of the page are still "Under Construction", although there is a great section with the Biographies about the cast and crew
• Another interesting area is the Dinosaur info page, where you can find out about the dinosaurs in the movie, along with pictures.
• An excellent "Notes" section, which contains info on the pre-production/production of JP2.
• More Video Clips, with short interviews with Spielberg, Goldblum, Vaughn, Moore, and David Koepp.
• Also, look here for a list of radio stations that will be giving away free JP2 tickets!

If you didn't see it, Entertainment Tonight had a segment on JP2 last night, which showed a few new scenes and feature the new JP2 music! Check out yesterday's update to download the soundtrack (click here).

Here's some more info about the official site--

"Universal Studios Online, a division of Universal Studios New Media Group, will host a weekly series of moderated chats featuring the cast and filmmakers of ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park'' beginning the week of May 19 on its Universal Chat! Site, www.universalstudios.com. "

Check out this exclusive image from the upcoming Sony Playstaion JP2 Game, from Dreamworks Interactive

(Click the picture to enlarge)

Access Hollywood declared last night that JP2 would be the king of the summer movies: "If it's between Bats and Dinosaurs, it will definetly be the Jurassic Park sequel. People just can't get enough of dinosaurs." (thanks to Jerry Glonek)

Look for JP2 Popcorn Buckets at a movie theater new you, according to Luke. There are three different designs: The T-Rex busting through the logo, two Raptors and the logo, and two Utah-Raptors and the logo"

Just in case you were wondering (I was), the Canadian Release Date for JP2 is the same as the US, the 23rd. (thanks to John Gemmell)

Entertainment Tonight just had a segment on The Lost World, and the big news is that the new JP2 music was played in the background! I'll hopefully have pics and/or a .MOV from the new scenes they showed tomorrow, but until then, here's the sound track:

"Apollo" has made a .AVI of wednesday's Dateline segment on The Lost World. You can download it here (it's 24.8mb). Check out yesterday's update for the audio track of the segment and pictures.

Steve reports that the JP2 trailer is featured on E! Entertainment Television's "Coming Attractions" show this week. The next time it airs is 7:00am, tomorrow morning (EST), and then 6:00am on Saturday morning.

A few people reported seeing a new 30-second trailer last night, describing it as "like the last one, except the announcer says what appears in the puddles". (thanks to Jerry Glonek). .

The Orlando Sentinal had an article on Universal Studio's Florida new Islands of Adventure theme park, which will open next year. An excerpt: "On the Jurassic Park island, beyond the river ride that leads to the ominous encounter with a Tyrannosaurus rex, there is a play area where kids can pretend they're paleontologists looking for bones and other signs of dinosaurs. The area also features an unusual twist on the petting zoo: a paddock with a 24-foot long animatronic Triceratops that will blink and flinch when touched." (thanks to "compy")

The Fleetwood RV Company made both the customized RV to be seen in the movie, as well as the promotional JP2 motor home that has been spotted around the country. On their webpage is some pictures and info about their role in the film: (thanks to Greg Young)

Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment asked Fleetwood to create a custom RV destined to have an encounter with dinosaurs. "We provided completed vehicles for Spielberg's special effects crew to customize in ways only he and his team could imagine," said Dick Parks, senior vice president of Fleetwood RV. "We started with our exclusive Power Platform© I-beam chassis, because strength and durability were the two top requirements of the project."

"We had to engineer the back section of the vehicle from the ground up," said Steve Pierce, senior product coordinator for Fleetwood. "I can't describe it without giving away some exciting aspects of the movie, but let's say it's a totally new concept in motor home design."

Here's a shot of the promotional RV:

Here's some info from this month's Premier Magazine, from The Steven Spielberg Homepage

"The new Premiere magazine is out in stores now and they have predicted The Lost World as the year's #1 box office winner, with an estimated 250 million dollars. Their summary states that Malcom "gears up for a rescue mission that ultimately has him wrestling with T-Rexes in San Diego." It explains that the movie script was written at the same time as the book, which explains the huge differences between the two. Writer David Koepp said "It's exactly the kind of movie PG-13 was created for." Very promising. Now it does mention that the set is tightly sealed about San Diego rumor. But unfortunately for Spielberg the San Diego film commission is singing like a bird. Premiere said that there will be a lot more interaction between the actors and the dinosaurs, due to ILM's great blend of CGI and animatronic effects. Sounds like ILM will be having another oscar on it's shelf."

Talking about Premier Magazine, you can read the entire text of last month's article about JP2 (entitled "A World Apart") here. (thanks to Scott Ziolko)

Some info on the Snap-tite JP2 models, thanks to Larry: There are two models, one of the T-Rex ripping apart a car, and another of a group of Raptors. He also adds that these are much nicer than the model kits made by Lindberg for JP1.

More JP2 merchandise, spotted at "Suncoast" by James Nicholson:

• "Glow bones dinos" -- small figures that use the heat from your hand to make them glow. $2.99
• "Jurassic Park: The Complete Saga" magazine made by Star Log with 2 (double sided) posters. It has info on the new movie along with some new pictures. $5.99.
• He also saw the JP2 straws, mugs, and hats.

Julianna Moore is scheduled to appear on The Tonight Show on May 20th.

Some info on the Burger King promotion: There will be four different JP2 watches--one will have a large eye on the clock face, with reptile skin on the band. There will also be a large JP2 sticker which Burger King owners can put on their window, as well as a contest of some kind. (thanks to "(=KEG=)")

Andy Rattinger reports that the release date of JP2 in Mexico will be June 20th. However, there will be a special Premiere at the National Auditorium on June 9th, in Benefit of the National Museum of Natural History and Science. Ticket prices start at 50 pesos (about $6.25 US) and go up from there.

A press release from Universal themselves basically says that the official JP2 site will be updated this Friday: (thanks to "KBubsy2256")

Internet users on May 9 will get the full story behind this year's most anticipated film when they visit Universal Pictures' official Web site for Steven Spielberg's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," located at www.lost-world.com.

The extensive multimedia presentation coincides with the final countdown to the opening of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment's sequel to the highest-grossing film of all time in more than 3,000 theaters across the U.S. and Canada on May 23.

Beginning on May 9, visitors to the Web site will be transported to Site B.

Traveling around this modern day Lost World, exploring different content areas themed to the geography of the island, the user becomes immersed in the realm of the film. Fact and fiction merge as production information, cast and crew biographies, photographs, video clips and much more are revealed in a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "The Lost World: Jurassic Park." The site's video streaming feature enables visitors to join director Steven Spielberg, star Jeff Goldblum and the rest of the cast and crew on location and experience what it was like during production.

The first issue of the Topps JP2 Comic Adaption came out today--did anyone get it? Early reports say that it's very hard to find, as many stores are sold out.

Last week's poll results: This poll didn't have anything to do with The Lost World or Jurassic Park--I hope you didn't mind. It was just some basic demographic info--who is coming to my page, and how old the are. The results were interesting-- The majority of the those who voted were male (87%), with an average age in the 13-16 range. And while the overwhelming majority of those who voted were male, there were quite a few females (30%), also with an average age of 13-16

This weeks' Poll. "Who is your favorite character from The Lost World (the book)" Vote Here

Deep Blue vs. Kasparov, Game 4--watch it live here. Go Big Blue!