Category: News

When you think of people who helped craft and influence the Jurassic Park franchise, one of the names that springs to mind is the late Stan Winston. While those who he worked with at his company Stan Winston Studios, formed Legacy Effects after his unfortunate passing, the team remained active within the industry and went on to creative special effects and animatronics for films such as 2012, Avatar, The Hunger Games, Iron Man 2&3, and many more.

The company also continued its relationship with the Jurassic franchise with 2015’s Jurassic World, where the team created a full size Apatosaurus neck animatronic that was seen in a key scene in the film.

Unfortunately only the one animatronic made it into the film, but writer/producer Colin Trevorrow stated to numerous outlets that the sequel, directed by J.A. Bayona, will feature more animatronics in the same way the original three films did. Naturally, fans assumed that Legacy Effects would return in full force and would bring back fan favourites in animatronic form.

However, in December of last year, we began to hear that Legacy Effects were not involved with the sequel, and that Neal Scanlan and his team had put a bid in for the film – and won. Neal’s last project was Star Wars: The Force Awakens which also filmed at Pinewood Studios in London, where all of Fallen Kingdom’s studio work would be filmed.

The prospect of Stan Winston’s original team not being involved with the franchise anymore obviously shocked fans, and while business is business, the exclusion of this company to some perhaps seems illogical, when you consider how prominent and ground breaking the animatronics were in the original trilogy.

In March, a glimmer of hope shone in Legacy’s direction, when a filming permit for Ancient Futures (Fallen Kingdom’s working title) was acquired for Pacoima, Los Angeles. Legacy Effects are very close to that same area, which led some to speculate that they will be involved with the sequel in some capacity.

However, after speaking with Stan Winston School of Character Arts’ co-founder and son of Stan Winston, Matt Winston, he clarified to us that Legacy Effects are not involved with the sequel.

“Unfortunately, I have zero knowledge of JW2 since Legacy was not involved. My fingers are crossed that Neal and his time did a great job.”

With Fallen Kingdom’s production office based in London and with most of the key studio scenes being filmed there, it does make sense for the production to opt for a local animatronic/special effects company, who also have a working relationship with Pinewood Studios. Using a local company also helps to keep costs down, especially when you consider how expensive and time consuming it would be to ship huge and heavy animatronics across the pond.

It is unfortunate to hear that Legacy’s team will not be involved, but we can have faith that Neal Scanlan’s team will do the film justice! The team is working on Star Wars: Episode VIII and previously worked on the last two Star Wars films, Prometheus, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and many more. What do you make of their work?

Forever on someone’s couch chatting away about his latest endeavours in his velvet tones, Jeff Goldblum took some time out of his manic schedule last week to appear on the Adam Carolla Show.

Coy as always, he didn’t drop anything too spoiler-y, but he did mention he had wrapped after shooting in London for a week giving us another clue to the size of Malcolm’s contribution to Fallen Kingdom. He also notes the title announcement (with a humorous stumble in the process), his amazement at the sets built at Pinewood, as well as his respect for director J.A. Bayona. The exciting use of Malcolm’s quote from Jurassic Park; “Life Finds a Way” also gets a mention in passing.

If you’re like us, then you could happily listen to Jeff Goldblum talking all day, even if it’s not a Jurassic conversation. Listen to the whole episode at the link below.

Source: JurassiRaptor, The Adam Carolla Show

New photos have emerged from the set of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom at Kualoa Ranch and a photo of a set piece that will drive fans out of their mind has also surfaced. So please beware of possible spoilers within this article. If you wish to remain completely unspoiled for the upcoming sequel do not continue below.

Still here? Ok, lets continue on to the set photos that contain possible spoilers. The 9 photos you see below were taken at the Kualoa Ranch and you can make out some skeletons of what appears to be a Triceratops and an Apatosaurus. Also the one photo shows the wreckage of a Gyrosphere. Heavy fog continues to be pumped into the filming area indicating some big natural event could be occurring on the island.

These images come courtesy of Ken brewer, the @SmokingGoose on Twitter:

 

More behind the scenes set photos from the ranch are also available on Dread Central, so make sure to check those out also.

Now for the big possible spoiler.

The original Jurassic Park ford explorer had been spotted in Los Angeles (being prepped to ship to Hawaii) over a month ago, and appears to be set to return to the big screen in the sequel! As you will notice in the photo below from Slash Film the number on the explorer is “04”. Jurassic fans will remember this as the explorer that was destroyed by the T-Rex in the original film.

If this explorer is returning in the sequel, could it be in a flash back segment? Perhaps there were two “04” vehicles on the island or maybe production is going to crush the car before filming to recreate the wreckage. As it stands in the image, the vehicle is not 100% accurate as it’s missing the glass domed roof. However, this is likely before the art department finished with it, and judging by the image below, it was altered and weathered quite a bit! Lots of questions but it is exciting that is appears this classic vehicle will be returning just like the jeep returned in Jurassic World.

Moving on, Twitter user hawaii_isla808 also posted some photos on Twitter of a Stegosaurus prop that was featured on KITV News.

This Morning KITV News.. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom underway filming storm at Pier today. #jurassicworldfallenkingdom #jurassicworld pic.twitter.com/hYbFIoXO4q

— hawaii isla 808 (@hawaii_isla808) June 26, 2017

Finally, a few more peaks of the dinosaur stand-ins on site at Heeia Kea harbour:

Bye my friend. ?? #rawr #jurassicworld2 #jurassicworldfallenkingdom

A post shared by CocoandMau Love (@cocoandmaulove) on Jun 27, 2017 at 3:02pm PDT

#jurassicworld2 #sneakpeek #stegosaurus #myofficeiscoolerthanyours ? #luckywelivehi #imgoingtojail

A post shared by ?.?.??.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.⚓️.⛵️. (@iamamberose) on Jun 27, 2017 at 7:40pm PDT

What do you think of these new set photos from Hawaii and are you excited to possibly see the return of the original Jurassic Park ford explorer? Let us know in the comments below and on our forums.

Sources: Slash Film, Dread Central, hawaii isla 808 on Twitter, cocoandmaulove on Instagram, and iamamberose on Instagram

Recently there have been rumours that a teaser trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will be hitting Hall H at the San Diego Comic Con this July. While timing could allow for the studio to reveal a short (and sweet) teaser trailer to an excited audience, after reaching out to Universal Pictures for comment it would appear that this is nothing more than a rumour.

While it is always fun to speculate and with actor Daniella Pineda having recently tweeted that she believes there will be a teaser trailer “soon”, it’s important to remember to always throw in a pinch of salt with the rumours you hear. The studio told us:

“As a studio we aren’t planning any presence for the film at SDCC.”

So there you have it. Unfortunately there will not be a Jurassic presence this year at Comic Con, and it may be some time before we see any footage from the upcoming sequel.

There is just under a year to go until the release and while modern blockbusters all have a copious amount of teaser trailers for teaser trailers, teaser trailers for trailers, and trailers upon trailers, it’s refreshing that the studio are taking a relaxed stance so far with the sequel.

While the marketing plans have not been revealed and we have a while to go until we can expect a trailer, I do hope they retain a number of the key plot points this time around. It’s all about that cinema experience.

Fallen Kingdom hits cinemas in the UK on 8th June and the USA on 22nd June 2018.

For the past week or so, the Jurassic World 2 production has been setting up and filming on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. With many locations on the island being utilized, including the Kualoa Ranch, one of the main locations this week has been the He’eia Kea Harbor, a small boat harbor on the East side of the island.

Hawaii News Now reports that filming began on Wednesday 21st June at the harbor and that dinosaurs, smoke machines and large black tarps are currently occupy over half of the harbor. The report also states that boat owners were paid handsomely to move their boats and five commercial businesses were paid to temporarily halt their operations during filming.

We did report on the harbor filming a few days ago, but now we have more photos and a longer video from Hawaii News Now! As always we’ll provide a friendly spoiler warning – do not scroll down if you want to avoid any spoilers for the movie.

The context of what is being filmed at the harbour is unclear but from the photos we can see that smoke has played a large part, along with the military vehicles that we have seen at various other locations too.

     

     

While filming continues at the harbour, a portion of the Kamehameha highway will also remain closed until next week. What do you think they may be filming here? The area of He’eia Kea is not alien to filming – 50 First Dates filmed at the Harbor, and the nose piece of Flight 815 from Lost was stored and filmed on the other side of the highway.

A further spoiler warning for the following – our friends over at Reel News Hawaii recently shared a photo from the Kualoa Ranch which shows a familiar dinosaur…

And the Bryce Dallas Howard Network revealed some photos that show Claire Dearing’s costume in the upcoming sequel.

Fallen Kingdom will continue to film on the island of Oahu for the next few weeks, with Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Daniella Pineda, Justice Smith and Ted Levine known to be on island currently.

In related news – rumours have been floating around that a Fallen Kingdom teaser trailer will show in Hall H at San Diego Comic Con this July. Recently, Universal Pictures informed us that there are no current plans for a teaser trailer, and while Comic Con is always a perfect event to market a movie, this franchise has never truly explored this. In 2011 Steven Spielberg announced to an excited audience that they have a story for Jurassic Park 4 and will hopefully see the light of day in 2 or 3 years. And in 2014 during the run-up to Jurassic World, fans were able to text Universal for a location to pick up an exclusive SDCC poster.

However, having reached out to Universal directly they informed us that: “as a studio we aren’t planning any presence for the film at SDCC”. It’s not time to get excited, just yet.

Source: Hawaii News Now

The official title for the Jurassic World sequel has finally been announced – say hello to JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM!

The reveal came via the official Jurassic World socials feeds with the quote “In one year, life finds a way.”

With Jeff Goldblum having recently been announced as joining the sequel, the 2018 follow-up to 2015’s Jurassic World is shaping up to be an action-packed sequel, feeling more in line with the first two movies and opting for similar art style to The Lost World. See the full poster below, including the new tagline:

While the poster reveals very little and is utilising the current Jurassic World colours, the logo is now seen to be cracked and corroded (much like The Lost World) and the poster shows some glowing amber ashes flying past – something we saw very recently on some of the key art used at the Las Vegas Expo.

With only one year to go until the US release date, we will begin to hear more on the sequel in the coming months. While I don’t expect we’ll see a teaser trailer soon, a plot synopsis would be very welcomed.

So what are your thoughts on Fallen Kingdom? Do let us know in the comments section below!

Today’s news is twofold, as the Jurassic World Sequel continues filming in Hawaii. First up, comes the numerous images from the Jurassic World 2 sets at the He’eia Kea Pier, some including practical dinosaurs! As we do with any image not released by the production, I want to give a fair ‘potential spoilers’ warning – though it’s worth noting the media was permitted by the production to take and share these images.

First up we have a Triceratops inside of a transport cage, via Mahealani Richardson on Instagram:

Dinosaurs in transport cages? Interesting! Perhaps this has something to do with the “save the dinosaurs” plot lines that were previously hinted at?

We had first seen this Triceratops via another user on Instagram a few days prior, which we’ve embeded below. As you can see from the image, this is not an animatronic dinosaur, but rather a low detail foam model, used as a stand in. The dinosaur will eventually be replaced with CGI in post production, and likely serves as something for the actors to naturally work with, and lighting reference.

Next up, we have a few images of a Stegosaurus stand-in (again, we do not believe it to be a animatronic, but rather a prop that will be replaced with a CGI recreation). This image comes via Mackenzie Stasko of KITV, and was first brought to our attention by Reel News Hawaii:

Reel News Hawaii also shared this image that included both the Triceratops and Stegosaurus together in the same shot:

While the Triceratops seems smaller than its Jurassic Park counterpart, that Stegosaurs looks HUGE! You can catch a preview of tonight’s newscasts, which have more footage below via Mahealani Richardson once again:

Check back soon – if the newscast airs and includes new footage, we will be sure to post!

The second bit of news, and perhaps the most exciting comes via producer Frank Marshall who took to Twitter to promise “big” Jurassic World 2 news soon – as Thursday the 22nd marks the ‘1-year until release’ date (in the US), our money is on it dropping then. Some have suggested this means set images via Entertainment Weekly, mirroring the news release schedule from Jurassic World in 2014, while others have their money on a title and logo.

If we’re really lucky, perhaps we will get a mix of both?

Not that we had any question, but Frank also confirmed that we will once again return to Isla Nublar, the fictional island seen in Jurassic Park and Jurassic World (Isla Sorna, the second island with dinosaurs on it, appeared in The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3). We’re thrilled to go back to the home of the two parks, and hope we can once again return to iconic locations such as the visitors center, alongside all new locales.

While the big news hasn’t been confirmed as dropping tomorrow, we do recommend you keep your eyes on our site and on social media. Until then, sound off in the comments below, and let us know what you want from the upcoming news and if you’re happy with the returning dinosaurs!

Source: Reel News Hawaii, Mahealani Richardson, Mackenzie Stasko, Frank Marshall

The news just isn’t stopping as Jurassic World 2 writer and producer Colin Trevorrow continues to do press rounds for his new film, The Book of Henry. Honestly, there has been so much news hitting from different outlets over the past few days, I wasn’t sure what to write an article about, or what the highlight of the article should be – but when more news regarding Dr. Ian Malcolm hit, I knew I had my lede.

While speaking to MTV on their Happy Sad Confused Podcast, Colin Trevorrow wasn’t shy about sharing new details (thanks to Screenrant for the initial reporting!)

“You know, I did rely on [Michael] Crichton for a lot. I used a lot of Crichton dialogue. Maybe one of my highlights of this whole process is Goldblum. Jeff Goldblum called me – and I’m not going to do an impression – but he was like, ‘Look, I’ve added a couple of things, and I thought I’d perform it for you.’ [Laughs] Oh, great, okay. So, we sat on the phone for an hour as he ran these lines, and I talked about it. And, I mean, that’s – it was almost better than being there on set. It was great.”

Colin previously hinted at this much – during our past podcast interview with him, he told us that dialog from the first novel made it into JW2. In fact, he jubiliantly shared that he enjoyed borrowing Michael Crichton’s dialog, saying “It makes me feel like such a good writer (…) Look at me, that’s a hell of a sentence!”

Speaking with MTV, Colin also teased again that the film will be more suspenseful and character driven:

“It’s just deeper, more character-based, and it definitely leans into suspense, especially in the second half. It does have the big action in the middle. There’s a sequence in the middle that I’ve been watching – I mean, I watch dailies every day – but I’ve started to see stuff come together, and it’s just insane.”

Stepping away from the excellent MTV Podcast (which is worth a full listen!), Colin Trevorrow also spoke to ET Online to continue sharing tantalizing details from the new film:

“I was the on-set writer for the movie, so I was there every day making sure that J.A. [Bayona] had everything that he needed. It was just such a rich, positive collaboration and by far my favorite [production] experience in my life so far. J.A. and I are pretty deeply connected when it comes to this franchise and what it needs and the kind of risks that we want to take. We’re definitely making a bold, new movie. It’s not going to be the same old thing you’ve seen before. I love that partnership, and I can’t wait for people to see what we’ve done.”

That quote there adds even further context to the recent discovery the (normal) script rewrites, as he continued to work with JA Bayona on set to better the stories finer details on an as-needed-basis. The collaborative nature of the project should really let JA Bayonas voice shine on the upcoming Jurassic Park sequel, which Colin has previously described as “a Spanish horror film with dinosaurs in it.”

The news drops for the upcoming Jurassic sequel certainly sounds good, and there is no doubt that Colin Trevorrow is an expert with talking about films in an exciting way without giving a single thing away. While I do prefer to know as little as possible when it comes to film specifics, I am itching for some new official images, a title, logo, or even a basic premise for the plot – but until then, I’m sure other interviews will keep us occupied!

Stay tuned – more news is surely inbound, and with any luck, something more exciting will drop June 22nd. Until then, sound off in the comments below!

Source: Screenrant, MTV, ET Online

Rewrites – an incredibly common and healthy thing in film, yet it often triggers a panic response from fans on the internet. Ok, sure, when you hear stories of a troubled production coupled with script doctors and reshoots, the response is fair, but normally it is indicative of the continued fine tuning of a film. Considering we have heard no such horror stories regarding Jurassic World 2, I am not worried about the implications of the article that follows.

So, why write the article, or preface it like above before jumping to the subject? I think the concept of rewrites is a valid, fun discussion point about the upcoming Jurassic Park sequel, but I want to make it clear this article isn’t kneejerk reaction to the topic at hand. I know others will have that reaction – especially from those who read the title and nothing else (ever read the comments on our articles and Facebook? It’s way too common). No, I simply want to enjoy this peek behind the curtain of the filmmaking process, make record of it, and ponder things we can never really know.

Full credit goes to TheJHNFiles.com for first pointing this out!

Earlier today, Twitter account The Awkward Yeti posted a picture provided by Bryce Dallas Howard, where she posed with a plush brain and her copy of the Jurassic World 2 script. At first glance, there’s nothing to be gleaned from the image, which was just shared in good fun – the page visible is either entirely blank, or has been photoshopped clean. I didn’t think much of it, other than ‘oh cool, I would kill to have a copy of that script book’ – but then John pointed out the meaning of yellow pages within, sourcing the following quote from Jurassic World cinematographer John Schwartzman

“Every time a scene gets rewritten… you get what’s called a Coloured Page… your first rewrite are yellow pages. Then there are blue pages… pink pages. Jurassic World is one colour… it is white… we shot Colin’s script and we didn’t change a thing…”

The quote is from a interview from our friends at JurassicCast – and while it refers to Jurassic World, and not the upcoming sequel, it is key to deciphering the image posted above. As you can see, most pages within the script are white, however there are roughly 3 distinct yellow portions – most noticeably what appears to be the entire final 1/5th of the booklet.

So yes, it appears that some time after the ‘final draft’ of the script was turned in, a very large portion was rewritten – including the entire ending. Now, judging from the John Schwartzman quote above, it looks like these changes were all made at once – the script is decidedly yellow and white, which seems to indicate a decisive unified update to the story coming in all at once, rather than constant changes over a longer period of time.

This isn’t entirely surprising – Colin Trevorrow (via Comingsoon) recently stated that he was there for JA Bayona during the process of filming as a writer:

“‘Jurassic’ ended up taking up more time and attention than I expected just because I care about it so much, I surprised myself by how much I wanted to be there for J.A. [Bayona], just as a writer. I remember directing a ‘Jurassic Park’ movie and how much I would have loved to have a writer to think about the dailies and wonder what alterations we could make that would make it that much more effective. I was there with him every day to try and provide something for him that I didn’t have myself.”

While JA Bayona has been signed on since last year around this time, when the real grit of the writing process kicked off, his input towards the screenplay remains relatively unknown. What we do know is that Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly wrote the story with JA in mind, and aimed to make a scarier film closer to the sensibilities of Jurassic Park. Perhaps once JA Bayona and Colin Trevorrow sat down and discussed the final draft, the rewrites seen above were inspired, fine tuning the story into the best version it can be under JA Bayonas direction.

Odds are, we won’t know – not unless they discuss the changes and rewrites in interviews. What I would love to know personally, is if the ending changed in a way that effects the entire story – or if they simply tightened up the closing act, but stayed relatively true to the initial vision.

Filmmaking is a collaborative effort – the stories told and art created are guided by numerous talented individuals – and rewrites are a natural part of that process. We’ve heard nothing suggesting the studio has interferred with the story JA Bayona wants to tell, so it seems likely these were prompted to make the story the best it can be. Again, as the script isn’t a multicolored collage of pages, it seems fair to interpret the vision being a consistent effort.

As some will no doubt cite, the ending of The Lost World was rewritten fairly last minute – a sequence was planned with Pteranodons, Velociraptors, and motorcycles – but it was all cut and swapped in favor of the Tyrannosaurus on mainland. That decision, perhaps controversial, certainly led to some iconic imagery (though in that case, I do much prefer the original concepts).

What are some of your favorite stories of rewrites making a better film? Sound off in the comments below, and stay tuned for the latest news – Jurassic World 2 is on its final stretch, and now filming in Hawaii!

Source: TheJHNFiles, Twitter, Jurassicast, Comingsoon