Johnston For Episode 3?
Dark Horizons reported a few days back that a recent USA Today poll asked people which directors would be their pick to direct the next Star Wars movie. Amazingly enough the poll revealed that most people chose our man Joe Johnston for the job (Also picked was Alex Proyas -- he did "Dark City" and "The Crow"). Joe would certainly be an interesting choice, as he already has connections with George Lucas (George paid for him to attend film school) and ILM (he worked as a production designer in the early years of the effects house, working on the original Star Wars trilogy). Could Joe deliver an Episode 3 that had everything we really wanted to see in Ep 1 and 2? (My guess is YES..) Thanks 'Evilgrinch'.

June 25, 2002

A Baby For Amanda
A little late, but since I noted Tea Leoni (aka JP3's Amanda) was prego, I should probably note that her kid popped out last Tuesday, a "7-pound, 10-ounce boy". He's Tea and husband David Duchovny's second child. Mazel Tov! (Thanks Justin).

Conan Digs on JP4
If you missed Conan's JP4 joke from last week, 'JP Animal Control' has posted it online for all to view, right here. Perhaps the fact he's joking about JP4 proves there's enough interest for another? Eh? ;)

June 15, 2002

'Project Genesis' Interview
'Jurassic_Justin' noticed there's an interview with Steven Spagnolo, a lead programmer on the upcoming JP game over at GamersPulse.com, where he talks about the gameplay and weapons in the park-building game, scheduled for release "this Christmas" on the PS2, X-BOX, and PC, according to Steven. Some good info about the game here including the answer for those who've been wondering which dinos the game will have. "Of course, every dinosaur from the JP series is included," Steve says. Also worth noting is that he calls the game "Project Genesis", possibly suggesting that it is the final title for the game....

More JP3 Prop Auctions
Those dudes at Premiere Props must have tons of this stuff in their warehosues, as JPAftermath notes a bunch of new JP3 props have gone up on Ebay. You can bid on Sarah's Outfit from TLW, another Grant hat from JP3, Paul's Outfit, Billy's Outfit, Amanda's Outfit, Paul's shirt and a complete Grant Outfit.

June 14, 2002

IOA Gets Spooky, other IOA News
JP Aftermath mentions Universal has big plans for their Florida parks this October, with the always-popular "Halloween Horror Nights" moving to Uni's new Islands of Adventure and tying in with the attrations there, including the JP area. "Mutant half-dinosaur/half-humans will stalk guests amidst the lush foliage of Jurassic Park Island," says the scary press release, adding that you'll be able to ride the JP River Adventure "under the cloak of darkness". Wooo! In other IOA news, Steve also mentions theme-park fansite Screamscape.com is reporting Universal may have plans to "intensify" the JP "Pteranodon Flyers" ride at IOA, putting the whole thing in a steel cage a la the aviary in JP3.

New JP Game Name/Release Date?
Some info on the new JP game, all of which is still up in the air: According to 'Spinosaurus33188', the usually unreliable EBgames.com has a new listing for a game called "JP: Evolution", though no word as to where they got that from. Meanwhile, 'allosaurus' reports the as-yet-untitled game may have a release date -- October 23, 2002, according to info from a local video game store. (Update: Steve from JPAftermath.com points out the EBGames.com page has been there for awhile -- he mentioned it back in April. Oddly, the publisher is listed as "Sierra", though that just seems completely wrong.)

June 11, 2002

Happy B-Day JP
As people have been pointing out on the message board all day, today is the 9th anniversary of the theatrical release of everyone's favorite dino movie (and my personal favorite movie of all time). C'mon Stevie -- "JP: Special Edition" next year! (Thanks 'Big Razzie')

June 10, 2002

Hop-On Controversy Comes to a Close?
The IMDb is reporting on my personally-favorite JP3-related story today, mentioning that Universal has agreed to send $30 checks and free DVD's to the estimated 1,000 people who "won" the "world's first disposable cell phone" when they cracked open their copies of the JP3 DVD. As those of us who have been following this story know, the company who made the phones was uncovered as a possible fraud back in April, with samples of the high-tech phones turning out to be simply reconfigured Nokia's. "Although Hop-On has said that the sample phones were simply mock-ups, it has yet to come forward with a single disposable phone of its own manufacture," the IMDb notes. The news bite also suggests this might not be the end of this particular story, as shares of Hop-On stock rose substantially following the Universal deal before sinking to "less than 30 cents" -- shareholders certainly can't be pleased. "[Hop-on] has never even received FCC approval to manufacture the phone," the IMDb reports. (Thanks 'JP Animal Control')

June 7, 2002

"You're talking to the guy who has got to decide -- and at this point I've pretty much decided to do a 'Jurassic IV'. Similar to the third Jurassic, I will not direct it. I would hope that I could get Joe Johnston to direct this one, too, but it's up to him. I'll certainly offer it to Joe before I offer it to anyone else. We actually have a wonderful story that I think is the best story since the very first movie. In fact, I wish it were the third story instead of the fourth one. It came late, but it is actually the best story I've heard for a dinosaur movie since the Michael Crichton book. And I'm not going to tell you anything about it. My lips are sealed."

JP3 Stuntman/NASCAR Driver
Not really news per-se, but I found this USA Today article was pretty interesting: It mentions that Stanton Barrett, the Hollywood stuntman who won the World Stunt Award last week for his "raptor cage" work on JP3 is also a professional NASCAR driver. Man, his kids must automatically win any "my dad is the coolest" argument. ;)

[JP3 News from April 26nd through June 6th]