Category: News

Official One Pager Suggests Jake Johnson Reprising Role in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom!

Posted on by Chris Pugh

UPDATE: Universal Pictures replied to our inquiry, stating that Jake Johnson’s inclusion was a “typo” and have revised the document to remove him. While there is enough ambiguity in their reply to allow room for his return, I’m not personally holding my breath. However, it was recently pointed out that he was also included as part of the cast in the Jurassic World Evolution press release from Frontier Developments in August.

It sounds like Jake Johnson will be sitting Fallen Kingdom out, but I suppose this mystery won’t be truly solved until June 2018. Original article below:

Cutting straight to the chase – this is odd. Earlier today, Universal Pictures uploaded a new “One Pager” to press asset website EPK.TV. This document, embedded below, contains the same information released when Fallen Kingdom’s title and poster were released – with one caveat. The document has Jake Johnson listed as a cast member.

Jake Johnson of course played the fan favorite control room technician, Lowery, who had an affinity for collectibles and sarcasm. There is a part of me who wants to see Lowery return, though that is mostly driven by my liking of Jake Johnson in almost every role he has played. The other part of me is worried it may feel too forced – I’m a fan of letting new characters thrive in sequels, while not getting bogged down with writing every fan favorite back in.

[pdf-embedder url=”http://jurassicoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-jurassic1.pdf”]

Of course, as stated prior, this whole thing is odd. Prior to this press release, which technically contains nothing new other than Jake Johnson’s inclusion, we have heard nothing about his involvement with the film. It is very possible his inclusion is an error on Universal’s part, and Jake Johnson has not returned in Fallen Kingdom. Conversely, if true, this is perhaps the strangest way to ‘announce’ his involvement – normally more fanfare is included, or at the very least, a trade like Variety or The Hollywood Reporter breaks the news.

Stay tuned – we’re going to dig into this and find out definitively if Jake Johnson has returned in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom. Perhaps he simply has a small cameo role, like many returning cast members in the Jurassic Park sequels had.

Do you want to see Jake Johnson return in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom? Sound off in the comments below!

Source: EPK.TV

Rafe Spall Reveals His Character Name in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom

Posted on by Jack

Universal Pictures have a tight grip on the Jurassic franchise. While other studios overload audiences with marketing for a blockbuster months (if not years) ahead of the release, Universal like to keep things quiet, and this policy extends to the cast and crew who are contractually obliged to not share details about the film.

This is nothing new for Jurassic fans and stories of script security and news embargoes stretch way back. Today, in an interview with HeyUGuys and while promoting his new movie The Ritual, British actor Rafe Spall revealed one tidbit from the upcoming Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. He revealed his character name, previously understood to be ‘Mills’.

In the interview below, while immediately prefacing what he says by saying he has no idea what he can say, he praises director J.A. Bayona and the script itself which has been penned by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly. Watch the interview below (starting at 04:31):

Rafe’s co-star Bryce Dallas Howard previous revealed to the interviewer that the script for Fallen Kingdom is “one of the best” she’s ever read.

Rafe reveals that his character name is Eli Mills, and is present throughout the whole movie. He believes it to be a really great part and he enjoyed filming.

In another interview with the Metro, the actor shared his thoughts on working with animatronic dinosaurs on set, claiming it was “freaky and wonderful” to work with such prosthetic beasts. According to the article, he wasn’t clear on how the filming process would work when he stepped on set but was “delighted to discover that many of the dinos were operated by puppeteers.” He went on to say:

“Acting with the dinosaurs was really special. There were puppeteers underneath the sound stage who were operating them and they would have a camera down there so they could see who was approaching. It was freaky and wonderful.”

Animatonic dinosaurs are nothing new to the franchise, but the production of Jurassic World unfortunately only had one animatronic on set. Writer/Producer Colin Trevorrow revealed to us that animatronics were making a comeback in the sequel so it’s great to hear that cast members had many interactions with them on set.

Thanks to Brycen for sending the video our way! Also thank to Fede on Twitter for the heads up.

Universal Announces New Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom License Partners Including Funko and More!

Posted on by Chris Pugh

Universal Pictures announced new license partners and further elaborated on their plans for Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom at Brand Licensing Europe 2017 today. While it was announced last year that Mattel had acquired the master license from Hasbro, LEGO maintaining their involvement was only corroborated by leaks, but this press release confirmed that and much more.

Most excitingly, the announcement confirmed the addition of FUNKO as a partner. Yes, it seems likely Jurassic Park Pop! Vinyls are on their way. Read the press release below (Via Toynews-Online):

Universal Brand Development has announced the global merchandising program for Jurassic Word sequel, The Fallen Kingdom, with toys hitting retail in Spring 2018.

Master global toy partner Mattel and LEGO Systems will lead the retail roll-out with toys across a variety of play patterns and age segments, additional toy, role play and costume licensees supporting the second film include Funko, Build-A-Bear, Rubies, Wowee and more.

“The Jurassic World franchise has always had huge cross-generational family appeal, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom promises to be one of the biggest movie and merchandising events of 2018,” said Vince Klaseus, president of Universal Brand Development.

“Following the success of 2015, we’ve been hard at work to build out the largest Jurassic World program to-date to meet the increasing demands from fans, as well as reach new audiences around the world – demonstrating the global appeal of this 365 mega-franchise.”

Master global toy partner Mattel and LEGO Systems will lead the retail roll-out with toys across a variety of play patterns and age segments, additional toy, role play and costume licensees supporting the second film include Funko, Build-A-Bear, Rubies, Wowee and more.

“This will be a focused UK campaign with opportunities to maximise the popularity of the franchise throughout 2018, starting with a focus on the classic movie and moving into activity for the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, followed by back to school and subsequently the DVD release,” said Hannah Mungo, country director UK & Ireland Consumer Products at NBC Universal Brand Development.

Toynews International also covered the announcement, providing further details:

Other multi-tiered and cross-category licensees involve Apparel and home/décor (H&M, Freeze, 5th Sun, Issac Morris, GBG, Fast Forward and Franco), Food, beauty and stationary/expressions (Kelloggs, Ferrero, Jelly Belly, PEZ, GBG Beauty, Party City, Innovative Designs, DecoPac and American Greetings) and Gaming and digital – [including the] recently debuted Jurassic World Evolution from Frontier Development, with additional gaming titles and platforms from other partners to be announced soon

Yes, you read that right – additional gaming titles will be announced soon! Could the long anticipated, on-again off-again, Jurassic World Survivor still be extant and waiting to be announced? Time will tell! As for the other brands, Kellogs is making a return, so expect more fruit snacks – and of course Fifth Sun will continue to bring fun Jurassic graphic tee’s to market. We previously covered PEZ as a partner, but it’s great to see some official recognition within this information drop.

Overall, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom is shaping up to be a huge global event that will bring tons of cool products to store shelves and our homes. You better start saving money, because between Mattel, LEGO, and now Funko, it will be hard to do anything but spare no expense. Don’t think you have much time to save either – while Fallen Kingdom merch hits shelves April 16th, Jurassic Park 25th anniversary will likely kick off this January!

Funko Pop Stranger Things assortment

Stay tuned: today marks the first day of BLE 2017, and it’s possible some of these great new products may be on display and announced as the show kicks off! And as always, be sure to sound off in the comments below and let us know what you want to see from new partners such as Funko!

Source: Toynewsi, Toynews-online

First In-Game Jurassic World Evolution Footage Roars Online!

Posted on by Chris Pugh

Welcome to Isla Matanceros

Jurassic World Evolution takes place among the Muertes Archipelago, aka The Five Deaths – as well as the iconic Isla Nublar. Frontier Developments lifted the veil on Jurassic World Evolution at Frontier Expo, talking the exciting gameplay mechanics, showing off screenshots, and shared footage from the game set on the aforementioned Isla Matanceros!

Check out the trailer below and read on for the very exciting details:

The game looks absolutely beautiful – and the way you play it sounds incredibly exciting. Frontier Developments wanted to capture the themes of Jurassic Park, and as such, have three different ongoing mission contracts: Entertainment, Security, and Science. Each of these contracts come from characters who want different things from the park, and while you can work for all three and achieve balance, you can also choose to allocate your resources to one singular playstyle.

Entertainment is all about embracing the dream of John Hammond, and is all about achieving a sense of wonder in the park. Security is risk/reward system all about making the most dangerous dinosaurs possible, and containing them appropriately. Finally, science is nature: understanding the dinosaurs as they were, and letting life find a way.

Managing the park is marked with unique challenges: dinosaurs can get sick, they can breakout, and they can kill one another. You are left managing a living breathing ecosystem that constantly evolves as you play. Many environmental factors come into play: each island offers a unique ecosystem, and much like Jurassic Park, factors such as dangerous storms can threaten the park and offer fun gameplay challenges.

Jurassic World Evolution has a deep lore system, which plays into the “InGen Database” above. Every detail has been carefully researched, and will lead to an experience super fans are sure to love. Choose and learn about your digsites for Dino DNA, raise the dinosaurs from the incubation stage, and dive deep into the science. Gameplay and and story interweave organically in Jurassic World Evolution.

Frontier Developments have worked closely with Universal Pictures to ensure entirely accurate Jurassic World dinosaurs – and as such have been given access to the ILM 3D files and simply altered their level of detail to work in their gameplay engine! It certainly shows in phenomenal renders above – it’s great to finally see a high budget Jurassic game with film accurate dinosaurs.

Stay tuned for more! We have teamed up with The Gaming Beaver who is at Frontier Expo right now, and will be bring us unique video content from the show floor! This article will be updated with more precisie details and high-res screen shots as they are available.

Jurassic World Evolution releases Summer 2018 for PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

Exciting New Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom Merch Teases a New Dinosaur!

Posted on by Josh Evans

It’s been a few months since Universal released any information about Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, the last updates being the title reveal in June and the speculated Indoraptor reveal in July. However, that hasn’t stopped license partners from releasing small morsels of information in the form of 2018 merchandise teases.

Thanks to PPR Solutions we have our first look at what appears to be Fallen Kingdom school supplies.

The merchandise provides exciting looks at new promotional dinosaur designs for the film. These include new renders for the T-Rex(the original Jurassic Park T-Rex that first made her comeback in 2015’s Jurassic World), Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and Blue the Velociraptor among others.

The leftmost design with the text “Escape the Island” features a stampede of dinosaurs fleeing some sort of explosion or perhaps the volcano threat that was reported in July as appearing in the film. The rightmost design is perhaps the most exciting promotional picture yet – more on that below.

While there is a lot to digest from the new product images, including a silhouette of the Mosasaurus on the side of the one T-Rex binder, perhaps the most interesting is the eye looking through what appears to be a cage with a hand projecting out. It almost looks like a slender Velociraptor style hand but with the inclusion of a small Indominus Rex thumb. Could this potentially be our first real tease of the “Indoraptor”? While we know really nothing of this new hybrid dinosaur, we can speculate on its appearance based on the previous film and rumors/reports during the filming process. Could the Indoraptor be the dream dinosaur that Vic Hoskins mentioned in the final act of Jurassic World?

“Imagine. That one, a fraction of the size – deadly, intelligent, able to hide from the most advanced military technology. A living weapon unlike anything we’ve ever seen.”

Intriguingly, the artwork of the hand coming through the cage can’t help but remind us of the set photo of director J.A. Bayona with the mysterious dinosaur jaw. Take a close look again at that photo, are those bars of a cage?…..

Finally, in the second image, underneath the fiery Jurassic logo, could that be the Indoraptor skin pattern? Again, all of this is pure speculation on our part and trying to connect the dots of the information that is available – it certainly seems to match the dinosaur in the photo with JA Bayona. It remains to be seen what that mystery cage dinosaur is, and how the new designs play out when it comes to the film – but our best guess is it’s the new hybrid.

What do you think of the new merchandise and dinosaur design for Fallen Kingdom – will you buy them, or display them alongside other Jurassic Park collectibles? Also, do you think that mystery dinosaur could be the Indoraptor? Let us know in the comments below and on our forums!

Source: PPR Solutions, Instagram

Mattel Teases First Look at Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom Toy!

Posted on by Chris Pugh

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom doesn’t release until June of 2018, but the toys will come a little sooner – specifically April 16th, 2018. While they have yet to be officially unveiled to the public, we suspect that Toy Fair in February of 2018 will be the date the curtain is formally lifted.

Thankfully the wait was made easier: Mattel officially yet quietly snuck in a first look in a recent article with Fortune!

Fortune recently ran an article titled “Can a Tech Makeover Save the Toy Industry?” where they went deep into the behind the scenes process of toy making with Mattel. It’s well worth the read, so be sure to check it out once you’re done with our Jurassic-centric splinter article. Buried within the article was an image showcasing their prototype creation process (pictured above), and in the mix of prototypes was a clear Jurassic Park Tyrannosaurus Rex head!

Let’s take a closer look:

Right away the sculpt is clearly Jurassic, with a nice attention to detail when it comes to form factor – something recent Hasbro outings lacked. The skull and muscular structure looks dead on. This individual prototype seems to be lacking the finer levels of skin and scale detail, and at this time, it remains unclear if the final item will evolve in those regards. While there’s room for improvement with the aforementioned fine detail, the sculpt shape is the best the franchise has ever seen – especially the teeth, which are surprisingly perfect.

We’re unsure of what exact Tyrannosaurus Rex toy this represents (or if the prototype was printed in the correct size), but perhaps it’s our first look at the “Thrash N’ Throw T-Rex“? Mattel currently has an internal showcase for the Jurassic World lineup for license and retail partners – while we can’t get a look at the toys themselves, we can see a lot of work went into the display (pictured below). Whatever Rex head prototype represents, we’re sure the actual product is on display just out of sight there!

For more on the Mattel Jurassic World lineup check out our exclusive scoop article – though be aware some details have changed, such as the release date of the Legacy Collection being pushed back. Considering this is the first time a company outside of Kenner/Hasbro has handled the Jurassic license for an action figure toy range, we were nervous about what the future would hold – but as this first look shows, we’re in good hands with Mattel.

Are you excited for the Mattel Jurassic World toys? Let us know what you think of the sculpt pictured, and what you hope to see in the future!

Source: Fortune

Special thanks to Salernojp on JPToys for the heads up!

Rumor: Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom trailer roaring online this November!

Posted on by Jurassic Outpost

Let’s get this out of the way – we put rumor in the title so people don’t misconstrue the news, and believe Universal officially announced this. They have not. However, we can confidently say that the Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom trailer will hit the net sometime around Thanksgiving, this November. We’re not sure of the exact date, but Universal has put out the word to retail and license partners that the marketing campaign, including the trailer, will formally begin then.

This marketing schedule aligns with that put into action for 2015’s Jurassic World, with the first trailer hitting November 25th, 2014. Let’s have a rewatch, shall we?

As a longtime fan of the Jurassic Park franchise, that trailer didn’t elicit much of an emotional reaction for me. It felt disjointed, rushed, and altogether generic. However, Jurassic World went on to break records in the box office, so I suppose it spoke well to general audiences. With that in mind, I would still prefer something tonally and emotionally in line with the franchise I fell in love with.

A good example of a trailer that achieves the impact and feeling I speak of would be the first one released for Star Wars The Force Awakens:

Now that is a trailer. It’s pure Star Wars, it sets the tone of the film, and it doesn’t share too much. It didn’t rely on typical modern blockbuster trailer tropes, and embraced its own identity and past. If Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom can achieve something half as successful, we’re in for a treat.

So what do you want to see in new the trailer for the anticipated fifth Jurassic Park film? Ian Malcolm? New Dinosaurs? Animatronics? Volcanic eruptions? Let us know! All we’re truly hoping for is something reserved and subtle – often times, less is more.

As an aside, If you’re more of a ‘see trailers in front of movies’ type of person, you’ll want to see Star Wars The Last Jedi this December 15th – that should be your first chance to catch the Jurassic World sequels footage on the big screen.

Jurassic World almost had a second hybrid dinosaur, and we finally have pictures!

Posted on by Chris Pugh

Ah, hybrids. Love them or hate them, you can’t help but be a bit fascinated by their rocky history in the lead-up to Jurassic Park 4. At a very strange point in time, Jurassic Park 4 nearly had dinosaur human hybrids that wielded weapons – thankfully, that idea was quickly abandoned. Jurassic World of course brought the hybrid idea to life with the Indominus Rex, but believe it or not, she almost shared the screen with another fictional chimera.

Enter the Stegoceratops.

Many of you probably already know this weird dinosaur was almost in Jurassic World. It had not one, not two, but three toys, made an appearance in Dr. Wu’s secret lab, and was featured in Jurassic World the Game by Ludia. When it first appeared at Toy Fair 2015, Hasbro claimed it was a fictional creation by their team – but when the movie came out, it became clear there was much more to the story.

Information and images of its role in Jurassic World have remained elusive, but finally some HD concept renders had surfaced thanks to artist Bodin Sterba!

Bodin didn’t have much to say about the Stegoceratops on his blog post, other than it was cut from the film – however, we have heard the scene involved Owen and Claire stumbling upon an adult and juvenile in the wild. Claire expresses her surprise, saying she didn’t know this dinosaur was on the island, and the Stegoceratops charges Owen as he gets too close to the infant. However, some of those specifics remain unconfirmed for now – perhaps more art will surface and tell the story in time!

If you’re wondering why the Stegoceratops was cut from the film, you can thank Colin Trevorrow’s son. Speaking to Empire Magazine in 2015, he had this to say:

“In an earlier draft there was a scene where Chris [Pratt] and Bryce [Dallas Howard] come across another hybrid in the jungle. It informed them that Dr. Wu has been making other hybrids under her nose. Then my six-year-old son watched Return Of The Jedi, and said to me, ‘Dad, if Leia is also a Jedi that means that Luke isn’t unique.’ It was like, ‘Ha! Okay.’ And for some reason I applied that to this other thing and felt like there could be only one [hybrid dinosaur]. The idea that there was more than one made it feel less like the one synthetic among all the other organics, and suddenly it seemed entirely wrong to have it in the movie. I suddenly hated the idea but the toy still exists as a kind of remnant because Hasbro toys are locked a year out.”

I have mixed feelings about the Stegoceratops. I’ve been over hybrids before they were even featured formally, and while I dig the Indominus design, I feel this one is a little too outlandish. I loved the 1998 Jurassic Park toy line Chaos Effect, but I never wanted to see crazy dino hybrids like that in the films.

However, the oddness of seeing Stegosaurus plates and spikes on a Ceratopsian aside, I really like the design. While many assumed the dinosaur was part Triceratops, the design is wholly Nasutoceratops inspired. Remove the hybridized features, and this dinosaur would fit right in the roster of classic animals roaming Isla Nublar – it looks majestic, and oozes that prehistoric Jurassic charisma.

Are you happy the movie did not include additional hybrid dinosaurs, and are you a fan of the Stegoceratops design? Be sure to sound off in the comments below, and stay tuned for the latest news!

Source: Bodin Sterba Design

Concept art from Jurassic World reveals another alternate look of the Indominus Rex!

Posted on by Chris Pugh

Jurassic World was released in 2015, and much too the disappointment of many fans, there was no artbook sold nor concept art gallery on the Blu-ray. As such, we have had to pour over the internet, and hope that individual artists post their work from the film for fans to appreciate.

Today concept artist Ian Joyner uploaded a new early image exploring a very different look for the Indominus Rex to his Instagram. Ian previously shared some alternate approaches to the Pteranodons, which we have also included below:

While I prefer the final look of the Indominus, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this look as well – it’s perhaps a little more reminiscent of the Giganotosaurus as opposed to the final films albino Abelisaurid appearance. Moving to the Pteranodons, while there isn’t much variation in the art, I vastly prefer the variants with the longer head crest. They look less monstrous, and more at home in the Jurassic Park franchise.

In fact, I liked the unused Pteranodons so much I had to give them a splash of color to satiate my imagination:

Want to see more concept art? Check out our posts that go over the work from Seth Engstrom, which included the monstrous looking Indominus below!

As always, sound off in the comments below, and stay tuned for the latest news!

Source: Instagram, ArtStation

New Mattel board game for Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom?

Posted on by Josh Evans

A new trademark made by Mattel, Inc. on August 4th could potentially be a hint at a possible board game for Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom. This is complete speculation at this point and there has been no confirmation if this is indeed related to the upcoming film or possibly just another product Mattel is producing.

The trademark filed by Mattel, Inc. on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website is for the phrase “Evacuate The Island”. The description of the trademark is “PARLOR GAMES AND ACCESSORIES THEREFOR; BOARD GAMES AND ACCESSORIES THEREFOR” indicating this is some sort of game.

It has been previously reported that Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom will feature a volcanic threat and it is safe to assume the characters may have to evacuate the island at some point which makes the speculation strong for this trademark to be related to the film. Another trademark for “Fossil Strikers” was also filed on August 4th by Mattel for Toy Figures and accessories.

What do you think of the “Evacuate the Island” trademark by Mattel? Do you think it is Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom related? Let us know in the comments below and on our forums.

Sources: United States Patent and Trademark Office