Update: Macy Cast?
Also of note on AICN is this previous article, which reported that William H. Macy had actually joined the JP3 cast. (Thanks 'RaptorGirl')

July 23, 2000

'Election' Writers Clarification
I asked the source that provided some info last week if he could comment on last Thursday's surprising story that the two guys who wrote Election are being brought in to work on the JP3 script. He reports that, "The ELECTION guys are character writers -- their mandate is to work on the characters in JP3 and to leave the action sequences alone." However, my source speculates, "every time a new writer works on a script, it always changes more substantially than you'd imagine.. possibly to do with trying to snake a credit!"

July 20, 2000

Macy Offered Role in JP3, 'Election' Writers Look at Script
Well, out of the blue comes some pretty interesting (and encouraging) news from this morning's

Don't have a DVD player?
Well Panasoic is planning on giving you an incentive to buy one starting October 10th, when Jurassic Park and The Lost World are released on DVD. According to this company press release, if you buy both DVD's and a new Panasonic DVD player, you'll get 2 free DVD's of your choice from Universal Studios Home Video.

Final Fantasy Trailer Released
Yeah, yeah, I know it's not JP related, but still, it's badass... Make sure you check out the theatrical trailer for the upcoming Final Fantasy movie. You can download it here (7.7mb, Quicktime 4 required).

July 18, 2000

Updated: The JP3 Logo Controversy (Not) Settled
Update, 11pm.. This news looks fake. As 'The Hatchling' noticed in the comments, these quotes from Paul Sereno seem to be taken verbatem from an interview he did awhile back, not related at all to the JP3 logo. You can find that here. The debate continues....

Original story... I was just browsing around some websites, not doing work, when I came across this bit of reporting by Sequelbuzz.com, who apparently showed the JP3 logo to a real-life paleontologist. As you may know, no one really agrees over what dinosaur the JP3 logo depicts, but this guy seems to be pretty sure. Excerpts:

"The Dino appears to be a Suchomimus tenerensis, "an impressive-sized beast," says Paul Sereno, a Chicago paleontologist who found fossils of this dino.

"If you were standing next to it, your eye level would be at its knee," says Sereno "This animal was easily the size of Tyrannosaurus rex. And it was not fully grown."

Suchomimus apparently was a fish eater, said Sereno, but it could threaten virtually anything around it. "With its forearms and its jaws, it would have been able to take down just about anything," Sereno said. "It was the dominant predator of its time." "

July 17, 2000

July 15, 2000

"Here's the correct information about the writer of JP3. The screenplay has been written by Peter Buchman, screenwriter of Dreamworks' in-production Air Pirates (and the yet-unproduced film about Alexander the Great he's planning with Christopher McQuarrie). It's now in the polishing phase, and it has Spielberg's and Joe Johnston's full support. Michael Crichton, William Goldman, and Craig Rosenberg are not involved. The only actor signed thus far is Sam O'Neill."

JP/TLW DVD Video Ad on JurassicPark.com
The promotional machine that is JurassicPark.com is starting up, posting an advertisement in Windows Media format for the upcoming JP+TLW DVD's. The ad mentions JP3, and shows a clip of "Spielberg's new dinosaur", but I'm not sure that the unfinished dinosaur pictured is from TLW or not... The video is available in a small (2.8mb) or larger (4.3mb) version. (Thanks 'Gladiator6k' and 'm@ge')

[Update, 3pm]: The video has also raised some questions over the already hotly-debated JP3 Logo. Take a look at the old logo (right), then compare it to the one in the video (left): (Thanks Jim Morganfield)

Baryonyx Speculation
Here's something interesting: 'Spudling' noticed that in the official JP souvenier magazine, which was published when the film was released in 1993, a "Baryonx Paddock" is shown on a map along with the dinosaurs skulls -- according to 'Spudling', "the skull [of the Baryonx] was really close to the JP3 poster." For more info on Baryonyx, check out this page .

No JP4?
Along with word that Sam Neill is returning to JP3, the "TV Times" newspaper (UK) also reports that he is doing so "one last time". Of course, they could always make another one without him... (Thanks James Gill).

Yet more on the damn White Wall
Just to prove his point yesterday that the tour guide really did say that the 'mysterious white wall' is actually being used in JP3, Sam posted a wav file of the tour guide talking about it to his JP3 webpage (it's in the 'behind the scenes' section). Sam mentions that the wave file also includes the tour guide talking about a TLW blooper, so it's worth a listen.

July 13, 2000

The White Wall Strikes Again!
Well, now I just don't know what to think about the 'Mysterious white wall' on the Universal Studios backlot everyone's been talking about. Despite reports that the wall was actually left over from filming of "The Grinch", Sam Jackson swears that they're telling people on the studio tour that it's being used for JP3, and has video to prove it. Was his guide mistaken? Or are they re-using the wall for JP3?

July 12, 2000

News from Universal
My informant who works in the studio tour department at Universal Studios sent along some info about how the studio is gearing up for filming: "In regards to Stage 28 and the trees and bushes outside, that is true, I was just down there today and saw all that. I have heard that there are about four or five stages being used for JP3, but other than 12 and 28 I'm not sure what the others are." As for the 'mysterious white wall' mentiond awhile back, yep, it is leftover from "The Grinch". Says he: "They moved the Whoville set next to the Bates Motel but the snow [the wall] backround is still there".

4Filmmakers.com Questions
The 4filmmakers entry for JP3 has been updated with some questionable information.. This usually reliable site (which supposidly checks every bit of info before they post it) now lists "Dreamworks SKG" as a "Studio involved" and "Lawrence Franco" and "Gerald Mosen" as producers.. (Though Las Cinco Muertes noticed that it's spelled wrong.. it's "Gerald Molen")

TLW Script
Not really JP3 related, but Matt Groznik sent me a copy of an early TLW script that's been floating around the Internet. There's a couple "missing" scenes in there that make an interesting read.

www.jurassicpark.com
And yes, I know, Jurassicpark.com was updated a few weeks ago with a one-image advertisement for the JP+TLW DVD's. (Thanks to everyone who pointed this out to me)

July 9, 2000

Update: Plot Details
Trillian sent in some details that clarify the story on Friday (Story) about plot details from Entertainment Weekly. According to her, you can read the following bit of JP3 info in the 'News+Notes' section of the new EW on newsstands now (with 'The Patriot' cover):

"Seeing as 1997's Lost World stampeded box office records (U.S. total: $229 million), it doesn't take an evolved brain to know this one was inevitable. Jurassic Park III begins shooting later this month or early next in California and Hawaii, with a release target of July 2001. Sam Neill just agreed to reprise his intrepid paleontologist tole, and, according to a source close to the film, Laura Dern is in talks to make a cameo. Steen Spielberg, however, is pulling back: He'll most likely executive produce, with Joe Johnston (Jumanji) replacing him as director. And the plot? A source tells EW a group of unlucky folks will somehow be marooned back on Jurassic Park island and forced to fight their way out. Special-effects wizard Stan Winston is currently cooking up a top secret new dinosaur, possibly an underwater monster. Prognoss: Pretty much a sure thing. The strong performance of Dinosaur proves dinomania hasn't gone the way of, well, you know."

July 7, 2000

In addition, a source talking to the site [EW] is saying that the film's story may be about a group of very unlucky people (including Neill?) who end up stranded on the island and have to fight their way out and off the island. One possible obstacle in their way is rumored to be a new creature in the works by Stan Winston which may be an underwater monster. Are we going to see a plesiosaur in the next film?