New Pic
Yesterday's USA Today featured an article on several upcoming movies, along with their respective "buzz factor". While the contributers to the article only give JP3 a 5 (out of 10), the story did come along with this new tiny photo from the film, which appears to be a Spinosaur terrorizing the team of adventures, who seem to be locked inside the so-called "Raptor cage" we've seen before (I guess we should call it the "Spinosaur cage" now). Thanks 'JP Animal Control'.

JP3 Trading Card?
Several people sent me a link to this very interesting Ebay auction, which says it is a "promo card" for JP3, "hot off the Inkwork presses". Nate noticed that under the JP3 logo is the phrase "Premium Trading Cards", which suggests this is actually one of Topps upcoming JP3 trading cards. (Thanks Gregg)

March 6, 2001

JP3 in Italy
Mama mia again! Despite previous reports that Universal would not release JP3 in the "risky Italian waters" where summer is an unpopular season for movies, this Variety report says that JP3 has been slated for an August 24 release there.

Programmers Receive Oscar
I know this doesn't have much to do with JP3, but I think it's damn cool, so I'm posting it. According to this BusinessWire report, several members of Pixar received a Oscar Saturday night for their contributions to the "RenderMan" software product, a package used by pretty much every special effects house (including ILM on JP and TLW). Presented during the 73rd Scientific and Technical Academy Awards, this is the first time a software product has been honored.

March 4, 2001

Ebay Auctions
Several new JP3-related Ebay auctions this evening, alerted to us by 'C007TY' and 'JP3me'. This auction is the very cool JP3 "travel bag" we've seen before, though last I heard, this is actually a promotional item and will not be sold in stores. Here's a very nifty "Safari" hat (right), with an embroidered JP3 logo.

March 3, 2001

Plot Details
An interesting tid-bit from the new issue of British film-mag Empire, which has this short blurb about JP3 and how the dinos in it may exhibit an interesting new habit...

"The tone for the impending Saurian mayhem is much darker, with director Johnston offering up such set-pieces as a paragliding-rescue and dinosuarus with the anti-social habit of (spoilers!) playing with their prey (like killer whales)"

Another Sleeping Bag
There's another JP3 Sleeping bag up for auction on Ebay (here's the link), for those of you pissed at me for buying the one yesterday. :) (Thanks 'Nate')

March 2, 2001

JP3 Sleeping Bag
'JurassicPark' noticed this Ebay auction this morning, a "JP3 Sleeping Bag". Umm, if you're thinking on bidding, uh, sorry -- I bought it, using the "Buy it now" feature. :) I'll get a better scan of the label and stuff when it arrives.

More Universal Legal Action
Jon Gibson from Digital Bayou dropped me a line to report that unfortunately, he has removed the JP3 Teaser Trailer (the early one which appeared on the JP+TLW DVD's) from his site under pressure from Universal. I will not be uploading the file myself, so please do not ask.

March 1, 2001

"Sequel probably isn't the right word but it takes place on the same island as the Lost World," confessed unit publicist Ernie Malik when Total Film recently took a sneak peek at the jungle set at universal studios, Ca.

Digging through the dino-dung, however, yeilds tangibal and not entirely unpleasant prospects. (Spoilers!) After a paragliding accident, young Trevor Morgan becomes stranded in the island of living fossils-so is squabbling parents enlist the aid of our dear Dr. Grant amd is trusty assistant on a search and rescue mission.

Think Jurassic park. Think the Lost world. Now think Bigger -- much BIGGER. T-Rex will get plenty of action too, this time round the old toothy one will battle Winstons' latest creation-a 26,000-pound spino, which is most likly the largest animatronic ever built for a hollywood movie. According to Malik it's also the first time animatronic dinos have fought on-screen in what should prove the films most prominent action sequence (the dinos can currently be found, albeit under wraps, facing off on a dolly track at universal sound stage 6.

More Trailer Speculation
Garth at Dark Horizons posted a blurb about the influx of film trailers on the Web (the Harry Potter, Planet of the Apes, and full The Mummy Returns [tomorrow] trailers have been released in the past few days), saying that "[Universal] has a teaser trailer (shown at the NY Toy Fair) for JP3 ready to go and expect to see that within a week or two." No word as to whether this info comes directly from Universal.

Trailer Info
While some of us wait patiently (and most of us angrily, judging by the poll) for the JP3 trailer, Jon from JP3HQ asked the IGN FilmForce staff if they could provide some more info about the apparent "trailer" they saw back at the Toy Fair a few weeks back. Here's what they have to say:

Any dinos? Oh yeah... lots of them. After the initial shots of the group which establish the story (approaching the island by plane, and so on), nearly every shot in the trailer features a dino, or one of the characters fleeing from one. In fact, I thought some of the scenes in the trailer I saw were reminiscent of the first JP - the open field, with the characters running across it, amid the smaller dinosaurs, etc. I wasn't sure if this was a nice touch or if it was derivative. This is only a trailer, so we'll see.

February 27, 2001

Pteranodon Pic
CHUD.com scored another pic of one of JP3's dinos, this time of a Pteranodon. All of these pics come from the same source (previous pics here and here), which presumably is someone in the toy industry, as they seem to be either artists' drawings or photographs of very detailed models (not CGI). Thanks 'JP Animal Control'.

Universal Shuts down Ebay Auction
For those of you wondering what happened to the partial JP3 script an individual was auctioning off on Ebay yesterday, the seller contacted me saying that he was threatened with legal action from Universal and therefore de-listed the item. I guess what happens on pages 40 to 106 will remain a mystery, at least for now.

JP3 Posters Available
Rob Welcher noticed that AllPosters.com just got a new shipment of JP3 Posters in (they've been sold out for several weeks)....

February 26, 2001

JP3 Auctions
Some interesting Ebay auctions for those of you with deep pockets.. 'JmPurs' points us to this auction, which is supposedly page 40 to 106 (the last page) of the JP3 script, each page of which is marked for William H. Macy. Also on Ebay is this JP3 promo card we've seen before, but with some info about the film on the back (a tad bit too small to read, however).. Thanks 'Utahraptor' for that one.

February 25, 2001

Another ILM Article
For those of you who enjoyed last week's blurb about ILM, JP3HQ points us to this front-page story in Friday's USA Today which takes a very interesting look inside George Lucas' special effects company.

Tapejara?
Looking at the recent toy pictures and trying to figure out exactly what a 'Tapejara' is? 'TVBrains213' sheds some light on the question:

Tapejara was a marine pterosaur - a type of flying reptile. It was typical of later pterosaurs in that it had only a very short tail. It had a remarkable head crest, up to a metre tall. It is possible it used this for display purposes, as a male peacock would use its tail feathers. Rather like a birds beak, the end of its jaw was directed downwards at the front.

Tapejara fossils were found in Brazil. Its name means "The Old Being". This comes from the mythology of the original habitants of Brazil, the Tupi Indians.

Most palaentologists consider that pterosaurs are close cousins of the dinosaurs, but the absence of transitional forms makes this uncertain.

February 22, 2001

Trailer News
'JP Animal Control' did some investigation into the trailer rumor (which said we might see a JP3 teaser before "Monkeybone" on Friday). According to a theater manager, "our information says this is NOT the case," though prints usually come in late tonight, so we'll probably know for sure later. [Update: 'Scipionyx' has confirmed with his local theater that there is no JP3 trailer.] Previous information I've received says the trailer is planned for "The Mexican" on March 2nd, though that could have been changed as well. Stay tuned..

February 20, 2001

Tea Leoni Keychain
Man, I can't wait to see what the bidding gets to on this thing: Jason Spasaro noticed this Ebay auction, a key chain apparently given to the JP3 cast and crew by star Tea Leoni. "To the best cast and crew ever! Love, Tea," it says on the back. The price is at $50 with 6 days remaining, so happy bidding!

ILM's Fancy Computers
There's an interesting article in the March 2001 issue of MaximumPC entitled "Supercomputers: Inside five of the world's craziest power plants" which takes a look inside Industrial Light and Magic's San Rafael, CA data lab (consisting of 740 MIPS 400mHz R12000 processors, with a combined 740GB of RAM and 12 terabytes of storage), and how the company cranks out out the effects out for movies like JP3:

"This year, the company [ILM] will polish off 12 movies, including Star Wars: Episode Two, Planet of the Apes, Jurassic Park III, Pearl Harbor, and The Mummy Returns. For purpose of comparison, consider that it took ILM a year to assemble the computer graphics for the first Jurassic Park using state-of-the-art hardware of the early 1990s - and that the first Jurassic Park only had a few minutes of CG, versus the effects-heavy movies of today."

[News from Feb 8th through Feb 18th]