July 5, 2000

July 4, 2000

What the Heck is Universal Building?
An informant over at Dark Horizons sent Garth a description of a strange structure they're building on the backlot at Universal Studios. While on the studio tour, he says, "We strolled passed a huge set that our guide said is being constructed for Jurassic Park 3...it looked far from done. It was completely white and [had] a gigantic slope. It was curved, and looked like the single hugest structure on the entire studio lot." The informant also added that, "another complete set was up -- [the one] from the scene in the Lost World where Vince Vaughn ran up the steps to use the radio to call in help".

June 28, 2000

Alessandro Nivola

Christian Bale Rumor False
Predictably, the wild rumors last week (story) that Christian Bale was in talks to star in JP3, and that Lion's Gate Film was planning on co-producing the film with Amblin has been verified as a load of horse doo-doo, according to Las Cinco Muertes, the site that originally posted the rumor.

The Requisite Human Genome Story
It seems like all news webmasters are required to mention the two teams that have finished mapping human DNA story yesterday, but I wasn't going to until I saw a link to this toungue-in-cheek story over at BluesNews. My favorite line: "We really didn't have all the code, but we did have aboot 97 percent, and for the last three we decided to use frog DNA".

June 27, 2000

June 25, 2000

"The article is an interview with Luis Jimenez, a Costa Rican working as an advisor on JP3. According to him the script has the dinosaurs showing up and wreaking havoc on the Costa Rican mainland. He maintained that the script is constantly going through many changes. His job is to get them photo documentation of the airport, one of our biggest hopitals, the morgue, police uniforms, ambulances, police cars, churches, etc. and other stuff on Costa Rica... He says that probably only second unit stuff would be done on location.

He mentions that principal photography starts in mid june in Hawaii and the scenes that take place on the Costa Rican mainland on August 14. A small city would be built on Universal Studios. On the first movie the only scene showing our capital city was when “Newman” was selling the embryos..."

Universal 'Panicked', says Insider
I talked again with the person who provided the information about the plot of JP3 yesterday, who I now believe really and truly works for Dreamworks Interactive.. When I asked him where he got his information, he replied, "I got the information through some people I know at Universal. The whole studio is somewhat panicked. Various scenes in the film have been fully fleshed-out and certain character roles and sets are being built. However, the script is not fully complete due to ongoing talks with various actors. The plot details I sent to you earlier are definite, providing the actors sign up." He also adds that Dreamworks is planning on "initially bringing out two PC games, and similar versions for various consoles, although we haven't yet fully decided."

About this "DX" Thing..
A few people emailed me asking about what exactly "DX" is, mentioned yesterday in the information from the Dreamworks informant.. I was a bit confused myself, until a few people commented about it: It's a concept Crichton introduced in the second JP novel, "The Lost World". "Muldoon Rules" summed it up pretty well:

"DX is a sort of mad cow disease to dino's, it is caused by eating ground sheep extract as hatchlings. [Adds 'Digalot':] It caused the animals to become extremely hostile.."

June 25, 2000

• "Yes, it is a prequel to "The Lost World".
• It will be largely based on "The Lost World" novel with many new ideas, most of which Steven Spielberg has thought of.
• The story will have loads of information about "DX".
• Nobody has been cast yet, although Universal are desperate to get Neill, Dern and Goldblum back for at least small roles. Hammond plays a significant part in the movie, while his daughter and Ludlow also appear.
• Universal are thinking of names for a rival genetics company, although this company is not highly important to the film.
• The first island is featured [as well as] Site B.
• A set for a huge factory/lab is being constructed. This is not supposed to be on site B."

June 24, 2000

June 23, 2000

June 22, 2000

DVD Packaging Details
The Digital Bits posted some details about the packaging of the JP and TLW DVD's: "[The covers] will have a metallic foil appearance, Jurassic Park in gold, and The Lost World in silver. [These] new covers will look pretty snazzy."

June 20, 2000

"Although there is no completed script for 'JP3,' production is said to be slated for a summer start. Details on the project are being tightly guarded by the studio."

Studio Tour News
While visiting Universal Studios last weekend, 'Ethan Hunt' observed that "there were JP3 posters all over the park", and that his Studio Tour guide reported that they are now building sets inside the same sound stage as the visitor center from JP was built (stage 12?).

Christian Bale in JP3?, and Other Weird Rumors
Break out the salt, cause this has to win for weirdest rumor in awhile.. Las Cinco Muertes is reporting that Lions Gate Films may be thinking about co-producing JP3 with Amblin and Universal. Their source also says that Christian Bale, a regular star in Lions Gate films, has had meetings about a possible part in the film.

June 19, 2000

June 17, 2000

Another DP?
Glen from Las Cinco Muertes pointed me towards the IMDB's entry for JP3, which now lists the name Shelly Johnson along with Mikael Salomon as JP3's Directors of Photography. You'll remember that the annoucement that Salomon was JP3's DP was one of the first annoucements regarding JP3 back in February. As for Johnson (not to be confused with JP3's director, Joe Johnston), she has served as cinematographer on several projects, most of which for television.

Crichton's Involvement
The toy-industry website Raving Toy Maniac posted a story last week about Hasbro's annoucement that they would be producing a line of JP3 toys (see below). However, one additional line is of interest: According to them, the story for JP3 is written by "Johnston and Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton". You'll remember that Crichton has never actually stated the status of his involvement with the JP3 project.. Since this isn't an official source, however, I'd take this news with a grain or two of salt. (Thanks 'HyperBoyBrisobel')

More Universal Licensing Details
I sent an email to the guy who's selling the Jurassic Water (see below) up on Ebay (Whoa, bidding is up to $16 bucks now!), hoping to get a little more info on JP's presence at the Licensing Show last week. Sure enough, Max responded, sending along a few Universal promotional materials, which may be of interest:

Some Marketing Hype Text

The three most-hyped Universal licensing properties
The rest of the Universal licensing properties.