JP3 Animator Talks CGI
Dan Taylor, a animation supervisor at ILM, talked to Rave! magazine about the "try and top this" challenge they're facing with JP3. Here's an excerpt, thanks to 'sgon2':

Dan Taylor sat at his computer monitor in San Rafeal, running the scene backward and forward. 'This is one of our new creatures for this movie', he said, as a 65 foot tall spinosaurus turned, leaped forward and gobbled up a screaming actor. 'So this one, obviously, we built from scratch for this movie. Notice the movement of the muscles under the skin'

'You've got to make [a sequel] better somehow,' said Taylor. 'In the 2nd one, in 1997, there were 65 visual effects shots, 50 or so of them involving dinosaurs. In this one, there are 170 dinosaur shots alone.'

JP3 Games for Dreamcast, PC?
Apparently the new issue of the New Zealand & Australia edition of PC Gamer is reporting that plans are in the works to convert the PS2 game based on JP3 ('JP: Survivor') to both Sega's Dreamcast system, as well as the PC, according to Steve. "The article went on to say that the PC game will utilize the tecnology of the computer, [and] will be very movie-like and have a 'riveting story'," Steve said. "There will be a large range of dinosaurs... and the actor's voices will be used." Since this is the first we've heard about games for the Dreamcast and PC, a little salt may be required here.

May 11, 2001

• Macy: "My character says: 'Trust me, if they're dinosaurs on the island i'll hire some brawny types and we'll be safe'. And boy, are we not safe! The brawny types (Spoilers!)get eaten up in like the first two minutes and we're running from dinsosaurs for like, the next 90."
• Leoni: "I have no idea what I'm doing here, I'm insane, I never should have said yes to this. I've been stepped on, I've been chased, I've been scratched. I've been slammed, I've had a tail in my face, and this isn't even half of it. This is like, day two. You should see me on day three, I'm a bloody wreck."
• Macy: "You walk on one of these sets and there are a hundred and something people there and two of them are having fun, and that's the director and the DP cause they're making a movie, hey're making a movie all day, every day. Everybody else is waiting for their nano-second where they step in. The rest of the time its eating doughnuts and talking to help. And about the 5th month of that you start to lose your mind, so it is frustrating. Then I talk to myself and I realise 'This is it, this is your life. And these are your clothes.' I've had these clothes on for five months"

"Survivor Trailer" on JurassicPark.com
The JP3 section of JurassicPark.com has been updated, where you can now view the "Survivor" teaser trailer (they call it the "Paradise" TV Spot) in several different streaming formats.

New Pics
A few more publicity shots can be found on the UIP Netherlands website, reports The Spielberg-Dreamworks fansite this morning, including a few new pics and a better version of one we've seen before:

JP3 Script, Pages 4-7
Bob from Hawaii Movie Tour says he's posted pages 4-7 of his JP3 script. Still nothing too major here, we meet Ellie's new flame ("handsome but not annoyingly so"), and Grant seems still oddly interested in Jurassic Park....

Neill Calls JP3 'Sensational'
Must have been a slow day over at Retuers, as this entire story is based on (literally) three lines said by JP3 star Sam Neill: "It is coming together incredibly well. I was doing some voice work for it yesterday and I've seen cut sequences from it. I haven't seen the whole film, but the stuff I saw was completely sensational. It just takes your breath away. Joe [Johnston] has a wonderful sense of mischief and it's that kind of wicked sense of fun that is exactly what you need for a movie like this."

Pearl Harbor Trailer 1:07
JP3HQ received word from Universal that the new JP3 trailer (to be shown before "Pearl Harbor" on May 25th) will be 1:07 long, and will really amount to just a "longer version of the Survivor trailer".

May 10, 2001

The game is currently scheduled to ship alongside the feature-length motion picture Jurassic Park III in the fall [but the game] does not follow the same story as the upcoming movie. Savage claims that this will give it more freedom to develop and realize its ideas.

Described as Die Hard meets Jurassic Park by its developers, Jurassic Park: Survivor is a third-person action-adventure with plenty of gunplay. David may jump, roll, shoot, hang from and shimmy along edges, crawl, and repel down steep inclines. He will have an arsenal of weapons at his disposal, including an electric prod, a grenade launcher, pistols, and more. Computer terminals located throughout the levels allow David to access security cameras to get a better view of the levels or scope out enemies, and a security tram delivers him to each level.

There will be eight different dinosaurs included in the game, but the only dinosaurs shown thus far have been raptors; a tyrannosaurus rex; triceratops; spitters; the small, pack-hunting compy; and the only carnivorous dino that preyed upon the T-rex, the truadon. Savage claims that the dinosaurs will hunt in packs and retreat once a certain number of them have been destroyed, and they'll also lead you into traps. There are four human enemies included in the game, and the mixture of the humans and dinosaurs will present many opportunities for puzzles. One scenario asks you to lure a group of raptors into a pen using a scented piece of cloth so they may take care of a group of human enemies for you. Some of the puzzles require block pushing, and there are other portions of the game that require stealth tactics. There are also some racing sections where you pilot an ATV through the dense jungle or a Jeep being chased by a T-rex.

What was truly impressive about the game, even at this early stage is the game's dinosaurs. Right off the bat, I was able to see several positive aspects. Each dinosaur ranges in the 1,500 polygon range, and is covered with a single texture skin, each one unique to the dinosaur and visually impressive in detail, color, and movement. The list of dinosaurs features Spitters, T-Rexes, Spinosaurs, Triceratops, Raptors, the cave-dwelling, glowing-eyed Truodons (which are only in this game, and not found in the movie), Compys, and Pteranodons.

For the most part, the amount of detail was not quite staggering, but eye-opening to be sure. Then there was the Spinosaur (which is bigger and more powerful than a T-Rex), which boasts individually generated polygonal teeth that are immaculately rendered. And then there was the sheer size of the dinosaurs. The scale of the creatures was just wonderful. At one you in a particular level, Vaughn must enter through a security gate into which a Spinosaur is rambling about. Without any weapons, Vaughn must play a game of run and hide through a huge expanse of land to outsmart and outrun the Spinosaur, to avoid becoming a trivial Human McNugget.

Although the game was still early, we were able to see Vaughn's basic movements. He is able to walk, run, grab objects, swim and use weapons, duck and roll, and duck, roll, and shoot backward, grapple cliffs and ropes, and a few other actions.

Jurassic Park Survivor, in short, is still in a very early stage, but it shows many signs of promise. By straddling the line between free exploration and dinosaur hunting/and or avoidance, the game looks to provide a great need that Tomb Raider has long since left vacant. At the same time, gamers' appetite for a good dinosaur game, blended with great action elements has never been quenched. Jurassic Park Survivor looks like it could very well make its mark in this next generation, and specifically on PlayStation 2 with this hybrid concept. I'm looking forward to it.

Three JP3 GBA Games?
Nintendoweb.com posted their so-called "Pre-E3 Rumor Roundup" leading up to the big convention next week, with word that it's quite possible Konami is readying no less than three games for Nintendo's upcoming Game Boy Advance. "Just how much Dino action, you ask? 'The DNA Factor', 'Park Builder', and 'Chaos Effect' are the supposed names of the games. The first mentioned is due out right around the movie release, while the other two are scheduled for September and November respectively. Konami can fill us all in this Wednesday perchance." (Thanks Brandon)

JP3 At Cannes
While JP3 won't be premiereing at the Hollywood love-fest that is the annual Cannes Film Festival (probably due to the fact that it's finished yet), this BBC Online article reports that posters for the film "dominate [the] seafront Croisette", effectivly blocking the view of the nude women on the French beaches. Here's a pic of one of the JP3 posters on a dock. (Thanks Alexander)

Toy Clips, Pics
Jurassic Park: The Toys has posted two video clips from yesterday's edition of E! News Daily, which apparently featured a look at the upcoming JP3 "Spino and T-Rex Battling dino game" (similar to TLW's "Battling Raptors"), in addition to a look at the "Deluxe RE-AK-A-TAK Pteranodon". They've also got lots of nice pics of some of the toys, from every conceivable angle.

JP3 Fan Screensaver
The team over at JPAftermath.com obviously have some talented people on their staff, as they've whipped up this very cool (IMHO) screensaver, which features some nice pics and clips from the JP3 trailer. It's about 5mb.

May 9, 2001

More Pics From JP3 PS2 Game
Gamespot.com scored some very nice screenshots and concept art from "Jurassic Park: Survivor", the upcoming JP3-themed game for the Playstation 2, in developing right now by Savage Entertainment. Still not much info about the game itself, except for word that 'Survivor' "will take place from a third-person perspective and will feature large gangs of dinosaurs to shoot." The game is currently scheduled to be released in November. (Thanks Nate and Casey)

JP3 to Open on Record Number of Screens
The Spielberg-Dreamworks Fansite is reporting that according to a Universal source, JP3 is ready to open in more than 3,400 screens across the US come July 18, a new record for the studio. The number is 200 more than last week's Universal opening of "The Mummy Returns", and 119 more than The Lost World. Also at Jawad's site is this pic from the new issue of Premiere, a different angle of than the one I posted yesterday.

Pic From JP3 PS2 Game
inGenNET received a pic of the upcoming JP3 game for the Playstation 2 (now entitled "Jurassic Park: Survivor") from the new issue of Playstation Magazine, mentioned here a few days ago. The pic is accompanied by this description, which seems to suggest we don't know much about the game, yet:

"Naturally, a blockbuster movie like JP3 won't come without a video game tie-in. Though Universal Interactive has released next to nothing as far as actual information regarding the PS2's first JP game...we also know its title to be Jurassic Park: Survivor, suggesting a possible stab at the same survival-horror genre shared by Resident Evil and -- dare we already make the comparisons? -- Dino Crisis."

JP3 Script, Page 3
Bob sends word he posted Page 3 of his JP3 script, where we meet Dr. Sattler for the first time since 1993. Again, if you don't want to know what happens in the first few minutes of the film, don't click!

May 8, 2001

Spielberg Documentarian Working on JP3 DVD
'jappar2001' sends word that the new issue of "DVD Review" (UK) mentions that Laurent Bouzereau, an established author and "leading Steven Spielberg documentarian", is working on the special features for the JP3 DVD (which may be out by the end of 2001). For those of us who don't recognize the name, Bouzerau has worked on several big-name DVD projects, including the impressive Jaws DVD and the upcoming Close Encounters of the Third Kind disc. According to the article, Bouzereau was on the set during production filming the behind-the-scenes action. For those interested, you can read an in-depth interview with Bouzereau at DVDFile.com.

Toy Info
For those of you still unable to find some JP3 toys, John reports the Target store he works in received the toys, but will not be displaying them until May 29th. Apparently different stores are receiving toys at different times. In related news, a very nice new site, Jurassic Park: The Toys has posted WAV files of the sound effects made by five different JP3 toys.

JP3 Script, Page 2
Bob has posted the second page of his copy of the top-secret JP3 script, detailing more about the very exciting-sounding first scene of the film. Again, watch out for spoilers! (In Bob-related news, I asked him yesterday about whether he saw a role in the script for Alethea McGrath, the 80-year-old actress who has oddly been a rumored cast member. There's no evidence either way, Bob said, though she may play a "symposium leader" at Grant's lecture.)

Update: Since he's probably been asked about 8,000 times by now, Bob updated his page with a list of dinosaurs he's noticed in the JP3 script. They include:

"Apotosaur (Apatosaur perhaps?), T-Rex, Spinosaurus, Hadrosaur, Velociraptors, Compys, Pteranodons, Ankylosaurs, Corythosaurs, Brachiosaurs, Carnotaur, Herds of Herbivores"

May 7, 2001

Video Game Titles?
A few bits of info on the upcoming JP3 games for the next-generation video game consoles -- Marcus noticed the website Gamestop.com has a listing for game called "JP3: The DNA Factor" (possibly for the Gameboy Advanced), published by Konami and to be released July 17th. Meanwhile, 'cajun187' also reports the new issue of the "Official Playstation Magazine" (#45) says the upcoming JP3 game for the PS2 will be called "Jurassic Park: Survival".

Neill Talks SFX
There was an interesting article in yesterday's LA Times entitled "Like Talking to a Wall" about the use of blue/green screens in movies, featuring a talk with JP3's Sam Neill. "I find it personally quite hard to work against the green screen," Neill said, "You're usually sitting on a wooden box and bathed in this strange, ethereal green light and you have to pretend you're in Tibet or somewhere." The full article can be found here. (Thanks Countingdown.com)

[News from May 3rd through May 6th]