Who Wants Big Pictures?
I finally got around to posting these promo pictures direct from Universal, most of which you've probably seen before, but with one exception: these babies are HUGE, suitable for your Windows background.

JP4 Talk
Talk of a potential JP4 had quieted down recently, but rumors seem to be popping up once again. For starters, according JP3 star Alessandro Nivola on the "Big Breakfast" TV show (UK) this morning, "We all had to sign on the dotted line for [JP4] when we signed these contracts [for JP3]," suggesting the actors have actually been contractually tied into doing another film. Meanwhile, Eonline.com's resident gossip columnist, Anderson Jones, is reporting that Macy and Leoni will be returning for JP4, though Neill is not interested. (Thanks James and 'Mr. Goodbytes')

More Contests
An interesting contest over at Moviefone.com invites people to "Name that Dinosaur", where the winner's name will be given to Jack Horner's new dino find. In addition to the contest, there is also an interview with Horner, where he talks about his work on JP3. Some excerpts:

In Jurassic Park III, the big Spinosaurus is actually the meanest of all the featured dinosaurs. The funny thing about the movie -- and it's sort of a Spielberg thing, whether it's the shark in Jaws, or the dinosaurs in the Jurassic series -- is that you have animals getting even with people.

[About whether there are any misrepresentations of dinosaurs in JP3] Well, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park III are actors. And so they do things in the movie, occasionally, that they wouldn't have done. Just like people do things they wouldn't normally do in the movie, as well... Velociraptors were definitely smarter than the rest of the dinosaurs, so it's a good species choice to exaggerate. We know that they were certainly capable of communicating with one another. So it is certainly within reason that they did in fact hunt in communicative groups. So the movie, like many movies, begins with pretty good data and then exaggerates it for story purposes.

July 12, 2001

"What's a Bad Idea?"
inGenNET has a clip from this morning's Tea Leoni TODAY Show appearance available for download, featuring a pretty funny lead-up to what looks to be a big action scene. The 5.8mb clip can be found here. (Thanks Ryan)

JP3 Lovefest
A cheery article in this morning's USA Today Life section gathers some quotes from various JP3 cast and crew, mainly about how "cool", "great", "big", "exciting", and "fun" JP3 is. Says Trevor Morgan: "It's so cool.. I'm a teenager, so it appeals to me. This will be the best one by far." (Thanks 'Dgbennet4')

Get Commercial #11!
The latest JP3 commercial is here, this one featuring a longer look at some flying pteranodons and a herd of brachiosaurus set to some majestic-sounding music. Thanks as usual to Yvonne for encoding the video for us!

Commercial #11 [4.6mb ZIP mpeg format] "This summer.. Universal Pictures brings you closer to the wonder, the mystery, and the excitement.. of Jurassic Park."

The French On JP3
A split decision on JP3 according to two critics at French website DVDRama.net. My French is a little rusty, but according to Babelfish, the first reviewer gives the film a "7" (out of 10), saying "the bastard series of Steven Spielberg [has] found its balance" with "pleasure and dynamism". The second reviewer, however, give the film a "4", saying JP3 is an "idiotic monster movie but without dead time." Update: Here's yet another JP3 review on a French website (this one in English), where the reviewer calls JP3 "total entertainment" and "the real equivalent to James Cameron's Aliens." (Thanks David and 'JP Animal Control')

JP3 Given PG in UK
Despite rumors that JP3 would be given the higher "14" rating in England, James reports the official BBFC website has JP3 as a "PG", the same rating assigned to both JP and TLW. The official running time is also listed as "92min 29sec". And while we're on the subject of the UK, Steve says "Channel 5's Exclusive" will run a piece on the film this Sunday.

'Survival' Trailer
Jawad from the Dreamworks Fansite dropped me a line to say that he has posted the short MPG trailer for the upcoming JP3 Playstation 2 game, "Survival", over at his site. (This is the one which comes on the Enhanced CD part of the JP3 soundtrack)

New JP3 Stuff
A few interesting new JP3 products have been spotted on store shelves. At right is probably one of the weirdest-sounding ones, called "Bellywashers", a 100% vitamin C apple-juice-type drink. According to 'jurassiraptor', "the nozzle at the top of the dinosaur's head is where you drink out of." Steve has found "JP3 Mini-Puzzles", and I am personally the proud owner of a "JP3 Spino Lollipop Rotator", made by CAP Toys...

July 11, 2001

CD-ROM Game Demos
Education.com, a site run by edutainment software maker Knowledge Adventure has posted demos of the two JP3 CD-ROM games they have created, both of which should be on sale at a software retailer near you (the third title, "Scan Command", is due out in October). The demos of the two games, "Dino Defender" and "JP3: Danger Zone" range in size from 4mb to 21mb, and can be downloaded here. (Thanks 'DiloRaptor')

Leoni Talks JP3
There's a pretty informal chat with Tea Leoni over at "Filipino Global Community" website Philstar.com, transcribed during last week's JP3 press junket. The questions poised by the interviewer are pretty silly, but it still makes for a fun read. On one particular scene, Leoni says, "I’m very comfortable in the water... But I think what’s tricky when you’re working like this underwater... you’re acting terrified and it’s very difficult to sort of feel secure and calm enough to be working in the water when you’re...screaming for your life. So I don’t want to ever do that again." (Thanks JPAftermath)

Universal to Release JP3 in 10 Digital Theaters
"For the very first time, Universal Pictures will release a motion picture in digital format when it opens Jurassic Park III in 10 digitally-equipped theaters in the U.S. and Canada on July 18," says this press release, which details the plans to show the film in this new all-digital format, one which many insiders consider to be the future of cinema. For the list of theaters participating in the "field trial", click here.

New Reviews
A few new JP3 reviews have surfaced over the last few days.. British film website popcorn.co.uk calls it "effective enough to pass the time [with] new bells and whistles..", but that, "this sequel merely rehashes its predecessors, creating an efficient but unambitious blast of brain-free entertainment." Another positive review can be found at FilmJerk.com by a guy called 'Curmudgeon', who despite the name, says JP3 "kicks ass", and "This film is scary. I shit you not, its frigging out and out SCARY."

Don Davis Interview
Soundtrack.net is the latest movie tune website to feature an interview with JP3 composer Don Davis, where the author chats with Don about his recent projects, JP3 obviously among them. Some excerpts (check out that last paragraph for an interesting bit of information):

You seem to tweak Williams' themes just a bit [in JP3]...

Actually, I had to extend or shorten some of those themes to hit particular beats in the film. The first one is a fly-over on the island, and I had to extend the music to fit so I could get this particular motif over the shot of Tea Leone. I didn't really want to do that, since I felt it was stepping on ground I didn't want to step on, but eventually I came to the conclusion that it had to fit the picture. There are actually parts in the first two films where it's pretty clear that Williams was extending and compressing to hit certain beats.

The action cues are pretty intense, including one of my favorites from the scoring session, "Clash of Extinction"...

I've got bad news for you. In the dubbing, it was determined that the "Clash of Extinction" sequence would work better without any music. It appears on the album, but not in the film. To be honest, the film was a bit over-spotted, and Joe seemed a little nervous to not have music everywhere. In the final analysis, I think we spotted too much music, so when we dubbed, there was some judicious excising, which happens pretty often. I believe that in the original Jurassic Park, the T-Rex attack on the kids in the car was underscored - but the decision was made at the dub stage to remove the music - and I think it works.

News Bites
Spanning the globe to bring you miscellaneous JP3 news bites!

• A few new screenshots from the upcoming GBA game, "Park Builder" have been posted to Pocket.ign.com. The article also reports that the game will feature "More than a 100 dinosaurs" and give the player the opportunity to "Manage restaurants, shops, attractions, and dino health."
• Teachers across the country are being sent JP3 "Educational CD-ROMS" (presumably from Knowledge Adventure) for use in their classrooms. Stu Plaw, a primary school teacher in England, reports the CD-ROM features "some trailers, a virtual dino dig where you get to brush away the soil with your mouse, and a sound effect sequencing studio."
• Vacationers to Universal Studios may want to check out this site, where you can buy discounted tickets to the "JP3 Summer Splash" celebration going on now.
• Your local "Suncoast" and "Sam Goody's" are selling "exclusive" JP3 t-shirts for $12.99. In other merchandise news, remember Jurassic Water? Well, Nancy reports it's back (sorta), with a new hologram-type label!
• A reporter for Entertainment Weekly who appeared on NBC's Today show earlier this week (and who apparently can see the future) gave a pretty poor box-office prediction to JP3 due to its "played out formula", saying the film will make about 40 million in its opening weekend.
• The JP3 marketing campaign has finally arrived in the UK in the form of radio contests, billboards, and tv commercials, reports Chris. "Took bloody long enough," he adds. Today's "Movie chart show" on UK tv will also apparently feature JP3, as will "Big Breakfast" all this week.

July 10, 2001

"Heavy Metal Commercial" For Download
Here's the latest JP3 commercial to download (#10), once again thanks to Yvonne! This one is a little different than the others, featuring a rock song in the background (someone suggested it might be a song by "AC/DC"), plus some very cool new footage!

Commercial #10 (Animated graphics: "On July 18th.. Feel.. The.. Power..")

Star-Studded LA Guest List Announced
Hollywood's best are coming out for the "World premiere" of JP3 at the Universal Amphitheatre on July 16th, according to this press release.. Besides all the JP3 stars (Neill, Macy, Leoni, Nivola, Morgan, Johnston, etc.), also on the guest list is Drew Carey, Vanessa Lee Chester (Kelly!), Seth Green, Haley "I don't blink" Joel Osment, Anna Pacquin, Jon Voight, Forest Whitaker "and others."

New DVD's?
Now this is interesting: Apparently the re-release of the JP/TLW DVD's contain a few different special features -- 'MovieLovr27' reports the new paid advertisement (see yesterday's news) for the set says the TLW disc will have "2 theatrical trailers and 5 tv spots on it" while the JP disc has "3 tv spots, and 2 theatricial trailers" (in addition to the old spots). It also looks like both will now have a new JP3 trailer replacing the very old version. I guess this means they want us to buy them again?

July 9, 2001

[Favorite movie as a kid?] When I was about 10 or 11 I saw a film called "Notorious" with Alfred Hitchock. It was romantic, completely thrilling. If I had to pick a movie in the past ten years it would be "Fargo" by the Coen Brothers.
[On the CGI] I don't know how they do it, because all computer technology is a mystery to me, but when you see it you'll see how it is. They're much more 3 dimentional I think, as are the charaters this time... Computer technology is such a familiar element to act with in a film these days, it's no big deal [acting with them].
[Does he find the dinos frightening?] Look, I don't actually find them freightening, they've become good friends of mine. (laughs) When you work with someone long enough, you tend to look at their shortcomings.
[On Malcolm's chaos theory] In Malcolm's chaos theory, there was always a pretentious piece of nonsense to pick up girls, a way of impressing them. He's working at a very minor University in Central America, I believe.
[Will it be a darker film?] No, I don't think so. I think all of them have had their dark side, but this one doesn't seem any darker. I actually think I would be happier about children seeing this without nightmares than the others.
[What does he think of the finished film?] I was the one at the back of the theater making all the noise. I first learned to yell and have fun in movies when I went to the first screening of "JP1" in New York and to my amazment, everyone was yelling at the dinosaurs and suddenly it all made sense.
[About his toy figure] As for the action figure, I'm not sure if he looks like me at all, even though they took pictures and had a sculpure involved. It looks like someone else altogether.
[His favorite scene] I was talking before about Alan Grant and kids, there's a scene where I'm getting to know the kid played by Trevor Morgan and we're just chatting about stuff. Nothing about dinosaurs, but it's a scene that I think just worked really well and you learn more about Alan Grant than any other scene.
[Is there a blooper reel?] Apparently there is. It's mostly me falling over things. (laughs) I haven't seen it yet. It will embarrass me more than the others.

JP Trivia at Zone.com
Brian noticed you can play a fun round of JP trivia at Zone.com -- Post your scores in the comments below! (I lost all my points because I bet it all on the last question.. whoops.)

New JP DTS DVD Disc
Apparently the re-release of the JP/TLW DVDs for the JP3 tie-in (the promo where if you buy both DVD's you get a free ticket to JP3) will feature a somewhat modified version of the DTS JP disc -- DVDFile.com is reporting that the DTS release, which originally drew criticism because "the soundtrack was recorded 4db lower", will be fixed and re-packaged with the label reading "Jurassic Park (WS)(DTS)". (Thanks 'Sgon2')

NY Post Grills Johnston
The NY Post, the newspaper that broke the story back in December about William H. Macy's negative comments towards JP3 (you know, where he called the film a "$100 million dollar train wreck"), talks with the usually-frank Joe Johnston in this morning's edition about some of the challenges during filming. Also of interest in the story is the last paragraph below, where Johnston seems to suggest that a directing gig on JP4 is not entirely out of the question, unlike what he's said before. Some excerpts:

"In a way we were making it up as we went along," Johnston told The Post. "I certainly wouldn't want to do it this way again - I'd want to know that the script we were storyboarding and carefully planning would be the one we shoot. "It's very stressful to be directing a $100 million movie and not knowing what you're doing two days from now."

"Bill Macy said there was no script, which is not entirely true," says the director, adding that "all the actors were very flexible" and "dealt with the situation the best they could... We had pages we were shooting a day or two in advance. It was nerve-wracking, but it was also a way of freeing up the whole creative process. We could literally decide on the day how we wanted a scene to progress. "I'm not saying it's the way to make movies, but it gives you more freedom."

Has the hair-raising experience of "JP III" turned Johnston off super-size reptiles for good? "I want to see how this one does, see how I feel after six months off, before I think about directing another one," he says. "I think I'll have lots of time to think about it."

More Contests
The contests keep comin' in: jp3.msn.com is running one where you can win an all-expenses-paid trip to two to Costa Rica (you must be 18 to win), while Houston-based radio station KRBE is offering a chance to win tickets to an early screening of JP3 (on July 16th in Houston). Many local Wal-Marts, meanwhile, are planning a "Roar For More in-store event" on July 21 -- though no word as to exactly what this is. Update: Apparently this contest will invite kids (and shameless adults) to make their best 'dino-call' with a special JP3 megaphone.. (Thanks 'ZTCD', Dan, and Rusty)

Chat with Sam Neill Tonight
Just a quick reminder, tonight JP3 star Sam Neill will answer questions from fans at Chat.msn.com starting at 9pm ET/6pm PT. Get there early to get a good spot! (Thanks 'Embryo')

[News from July 4th through July 8th]