More DVD Reviews
This website has posted reviews of the Jurassic Park and The Lost World DVD's for your reading pleasure. Both reviews are very positive. (Saw this on Dark Horizons, thanks to Oviraptor).

September 12, 2000

September 11, 2000

It's not all bad news, however, as Bob has confirmed that JP3 will be "coming back to Nublar". In addition, the second unit on Molokai will film until tomorrow. "They do have two actors with them... One is 12 year old [Trevor Morgan]. They are filming from the air and on the water. The boy will be filmed walking onto the beach from the water," Bob reports.

Update: Don't get too upset about this news just yet (I'm a little miffed myself). It is entirely possible that this person Bob talked to was exaggerating the situation (or doesn't know the whole story) -- in fact, Bob adds (from the comments) that, "I just got off the phone with someone on the set, and this ... is a little extreme, [but still] costing alot of money in unneeded expense."

JP3 Teaser Trailer!
I just received word from the amazing people at Digital Bayou that they have procured a preview copy of the JP DVD and have encoded the much-anticipated Jurassic Park 3 teaser trailer on it. Click here to go to the page where you can download the trailer, or choose one of these other ways to get it:

• Direct Download (4.5 mb AVI)
• Zip Version (Thanks to Steve)
• RealVideo version (Hosted by Las Cinco Muertes)

News From Hawaii: Cast Arrives
While not chatting with crew members about the troubled JP3 production, Bob from Hawaii Movie Tours managed to pin down Sam Neill and his family yesterday at the Lihue airport as he arrived in Kauai for filming. According to Bob, William H. Macy and Tea Leoni are also on Hawaii now, as well as Trevor Morgan. Bob has several additional pictures on his site of stars' arriving, so do check it out.

September 10, 2000

International Release Dates
The newly redesigned Las Cinco Muertes confirmed that United International Pictures will be handeling the international distribution of JP3, and that Belgium can expect the film on July 25th, Netherlands in the first week in August, and the UK during July.

One More DVD Review
Saw on inGenNET that DVD Review has posted their review of the Jurassic Park DVD. The reviewer really has nothing negative to say about the disc -- "I suppose a review of his DVD is almost superfluous," he says. Still haven't pre-ordered it yet?

September 9, 2000

Plot Details?
'NolanAckoury' noticed that the movie website Cinema Confidential has an interesting description of the plot of JP3: "Humans return to the original dino land, only to find that there is a terror more fierce than T-Rex & the raptors.."

More Spielberg 'Favorite' Speculation
Ahh, rumors. You hear one little thing about a favorite actor of Spielberg having a cameo in JP3 (Story), and everyone has a theory. Corona received word from someone who heard that none other than Michael J. Fox has been spotted "hanging around the JP3 set". Ummm... okay. Like he doesn't have anything better to do. (Thanks Paul Lamont)

September 8, 2000

News from Hawaii: Scheudule Changes, Harrison Ford Rumor
Changes on the production schedule, reports Hawaii Movie Tours this morning. "After all that time getting photos of the Arboretum area, now they may not use it. They have decided on another location called the Powerline road, a very gnarly road that follows the main powerlines across the mountains." As for filming itself on Kauai, it will either start on Monday or Wednesday, according to HMT. "I have confirmed most of the crew is staying at the Holiday Inn, across from the river. Most likely the main talent will not stay there."

Bob also sent me an email about that news bite from earlier this morning regarding a possible cameo of a Spielberg 'favorite' in JP3 (Story). While the story says that the big star isn't Harrison Ford, according to Bob, "Ford been on Kauai for the last three weeks. He planned to stay so long he even flew in his little Austin Healy [a car] he got from his wife for his birthday. He left a couple of days ago." Strange coincidence?

Release Date?
Jon from JP3HQ sends word that EON Magazine is reporting that JP3 is scheduled for release on Wednesday, July 18, 2001 (a mere 313 days away). Of course, release dates in Hollywood are always tentative, so this may change. (Update: This date is backed up by this Universal press release.)

Spielberg 'favorite' to Cameo in JP3?
Movie Headlines pointed me towards a story on a site I've never been to before, CHUD.com, which heard from an apparently reliable source that, "The word on the street...is that someone pretty big is going to have a role in the new Jurassic [film]. Here's all I can give: It ain't Harrison Ford, but it's someone known for working with Spielberg. It'll be cool, I promise."

Possible Plot Details
Corona received the following from another one of these apparently reliable sources. As we all know, Corona has the annoying habit of posting anything and everything they receive, so you might want to take this with a few grains of salt:

"Although I'm not directly linked to the JP3 production, I can say for sure that the movie will be more ambitious than the other two ... You can expect more scenes of dinosaurs roaming the cities, including flying pteranodons. I don't know squat about the storyline, but it does have some disaster-movie feel in it and, according to one source, 'shows the full extent of what would happen if dinosaurs came back to life in this day and age ... There's an storyboarded sequence involving an aquatic dinosaur and a submarine, but the scene is rumored to be deleted because of its strong resemblance to a Godzilla sequence."

Neill Interview Confirmation
'Gary' reports that despite the fact I can't find the Sam Neill interview mentioned a few days ago (Where Neill says that JP3 will indeed be a prequel -- Story) he can "definitely confirm that the report [is] true. It was a feature article in a magazine supplement to the newspaper, so it would be hard to find on their pretty average website."

Cast+Crew Section
New site feature -- the Cast + Crew page. I'm going to try and keep that updated, but if you know someone should be there that isn't, please let me know. :)

September 7, 2000

• About the video quality:
  [JP:] "In short, [the video] simply looks terrific... Downconverted from a high-definition master, the image is clean, clear and free of noise. The print master used is excellent, with nary a blemish on it. Blacks are very rich and deep, and the added resolution afforded by anamorphic encoding provides a substantial amount more detail than the previous laserdisc could muster.
  [TLW:] Like Jurassic Park, the print element used here is clean as a whistle. Unfortunately, I noticed a few artifacts in some shots, which prevents this from being a reference-quality transfer. Still, all aspects considered, a very striking picture. "

• About the audio quality:
  [JP:] "I was completely satisfied with this Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack."
  [TLW:] "Dynamic range is superb. The sense of depth to the sounds is very striking, with solid sidewall imaging and strong panning across the front soundstage. "

• About the extras:
  [JP:] The main feature is undoubtedly The Making Of Jurassic Park, a nearly one-hour look behind the scenes at the making of the film, from preproduction through release. Hosted by James Earl Jones, this documentary was produced by Laurent Bouzereau and was originally shown as a companion piece for JURASSIC PARK's television debut in 1995... Phil Tippet Animatics: Raptors In The Kitchen is a fun collection of footage of early "claymation" tests of various dinosaurs, and when you compare it to the CGI in the finished film, it is easy to be both in awe of how far technology has come but also very nostalgic for the simplicity of effects past. Foley Artists is an interesting short visit with Dennie Thorpe, who demonstrates how post-production sounds are added to completed footage, creating the unique sound effects that really guaranteed Jurassic Park would work as well as it did. Nice to see the often unsung artists of filmmaking get some recognition. The Early Pre-Production Meetings segment is made up a few rather blurry, grainy clips of Spielberg, Stan Winston and crew discussing various dinosaur movements and characterizations...
  [TLW:] Anyway, originally announced as a special edition laserdisc a few years back, Making The Lost World never surfaced, so this DVD will probably be the first time most viewers get to see it. Produced by documentarian Laurent Bouzereau, this one-hour documentary is very thorough, covering all phases of the production from story concept to final product... Rounding out the video portion of the supplements are two deleted scenes, the quality of which is disappointing. [They feature] an early boardroom scene at InGen, as well as more exposition with Pete Postlewaite's Tremblo character.

• About the JP3 'Teaser':
  We do get the much-anticipated teaser for Jurassic Park III. Unfortunately, this brief snippet of "footage" is not from the movie, and is quite frankly one of the worst I've ever seen. Consisting of a few snippets of lightning and someone (or something?) running through trees, it looks like it was shot in Spielberg's backyard. Since Jurassic Park III hasn't even begun shooting as of this writing, one wonders why they bothered to make a "teaser" this soon at all. Hopefully, the final product will look better than this!

No Malcolm in JP3
Well, a rumor we've heard for awhile is apparently true: according to a recent interview with JP+TLW star Jeff Goldblum, he will not be reprising his role of Ian Malcolm in the third Jurassic Park film. He is, however, "looking forward to seeing it." (Thanks to Jon and 'JP Animal Control'. Originally reported at Corona)

Filming Wraps on Oahu
Bob from Hawaii Movie Tours sends word that filming has been completed at Dillingham Airfield on Oahu, and "the trucks, gear, etc. [are] assembling near the docks. Must be loading the barge for the trip here to Kauai." If everything sticks to schedule, filming will begin on Kauai starting Monday.

September 6, 2000

"They are still filming at Dillingham. The barge with most of the props and equipment arrives on Kauai Thursday or Friday. They have leased the entire barge and these things are huge. We will try and be at the dock when it arrives. This weekend they are doing the Molokai portion, have Sunday off and then Kauai on Monday. The river filming will take place Monday and Tuesday, the Forest Reserve the rest of the week and I haven't found out what after that."

Rudy in IoA TV Spots
Woo, I get to mention Survivor in a news item... Universal Studios has signed castaway Rudy "I'm friends with Rich, but not in a homosexual way" Boesch for a series of promotional advertisements for their Islands of Adventure theme park. According to the press release, "[Rudy] experienced some of the fastest and most radical attractions in the world [during the ad shoot, including] coming face to face with the dinosaurs who live deep in the jungles of Jurassic Park.."

September 5, 2000

"You know how the dream started"
"You know how the fantasy ended"
"Time to evolve from point A to Site B"
"Get ready for the Evolution of Adventure"
"Summer 2001"

Sam Neill Interview
Talking about his new Made-in-Australia film, My Mother Frank in the Herald Sun (Melbourne) last week, Sam Neill commented on his next project, and gave some hints as to whether JP3 will be a prequel or not: (Thanks Paul Lamont)

"I like movies with soul, which is actually the reason I accepted the role of Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. I declined to star in Jurassic Park 3, because the script was bad. After they went back to work on it some more I got a new and improved script and I signed on. I loved working on the first film, and look forward to do it all again. The movie is actually based before The Lost World, but after Jurassic Park. What they seem to call a prequel I believe. I'll actually be joining some pretty big stas like Tea Leoni and William H. Macy," Neill says.