Jurassic to be Included in NEW Universal Orlando Shows Coming this Summer!

On Monday, April 29th, Universal Orlando officially announced a plethora of new attractions and entertainment offerings coming to the resort this summer, several of which will include Jurassic characters and scenes.

Three new shows, one new themed land, and an all-new tribute store are all set to open throughout this summer. On June 14th, 2024 there is the simultaneous opening of an all-new DreamWorks-inspired land, the CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular (both on the Universal Orlando side,) and Hogwarts Always nighttime show (on the Islands of Adventure side.) Then, on July 3rd, Universal will debut its newest parade, the Universal MEGA MOVIE Parade.

At the new DreamWorks Land, you’ll ‘let your imagination soar as your favorite characters from Shrek, Trolls and Kung Fu Panda come together in one colorful new land at Universal Studios Florida. Meet Shrek and splash in his swamp. Scream with laughter on the Trollercoaster. Learn kung fu with Po. Plus, ignite your sense of wonder with the new live show DreamWorks Imagination Celebration.’

For Hogwarts Always, guests will experience ‘a journey through iconic moments of a year at the beloved school of witchcraft and wizardry, all set against the majestic background of Hogwarts™ castle in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade™. On select nights.’

The CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular lagoon show will feature 228 fountains that reach heights up to 131 feet, new 4K projection mapping, an original composition featuring newly arranged scores meticulously crafted to each scene, and more than 600 drones. The show will also highlight past, present, and future Universal attractions including “Jurassic World,” “Jaws,” “Shrek,” “Ghostbusters,” “Trolls,” “Back to the Future,” “Universal Monsters,” “Transformers,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” “E.T.,” “Fast and Furious,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Minions,” “The Mummy” and “King Kong, and “Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts” films.

Capping off the summer fun in July, the highly anticipated new parade show debuts. At the Universal MEGA MOVIE Paradeyour favorite characters will leap off the screen and onto the streets for a daytime parade. Feel the roar of the T.rex, enjoy the adventure of E.T., embrace your true colors with Trolls, and more. On select days.’ The parade is said to be Universal’s biggest daytime parade to date, combining 13 brand new floats, nearly 100 performers – including dancers, skaters, stilt walkers, performers and more – and special effects to create a jaw-dropping experience where guests can relive classic film moments in a whole new way.

While we don’t have official images of any of the floats or characters that will be present, we encourage everyone to check out videos online of past parades from Universal parks in Japan and Singapore.

In conjunction with the new parade will be this summer’s tribute store, themed to the various movies and characters that will be brought to life in the show. Will this mean that, for the third time, Jurassic will be present in a tribute store? Time will tell!

Tell us, are you excited about the new summer offerings coming to Universal Orlando? What scenes and moments from the Jurassic franchise do you hope to experience in the new parade and nighttime show?

Malta Is Back For ‘Jurassic World 4,’ But Not In The Way You Think

Do you remember the last time you saw a dinosaur? Well, for Jurassic fans, it was officially back in 2022 when ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ roared into theaters. In 2025, we’ll all get our next chance to see our beloved dinosaurs from the franchise (and likely new ones) making their way to theater screens once again. However, the film still hasn’t even been shot yet! Strong rumors and scoops point to (Jurassic) June being the start of filming for the Gareth Edwards-helmed project. Sky Studios and Thailand are confirmed locations for ‘Jurassic World 4’ (unofficial title), as well as Malta. In a new article today from Times of Malta, the country has expanded upon just how it will likely be used in the latest Jurassic film.

“The production has booked almost all facilities at the Malta Film Studios in Kalkara this summer and is set to shoot bet­ween July and September, multiple film industry sources told Times of Malta. The world-renowned franchise will only film part of its latest movie in Malta and there are no shoots scheduled on location.”

What’s interesting about this reveal is that while ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ filmed on-location in Malta for its entertaining middle portion of the film (which included exteriors for the ‘dinosaur black market’ and the famous, or infamous, chase scene between Chris Pratt and a pack of Atrociraptors), it never used any of its studios or facilities. The reveal of the new entry in the series not including any “on location” shoots is also quite revealing, as this possibly nixes any theory of returning to Malta’s locations from ‘Dominion.’ This also puzzles us further as to whether the new film really is a sequel, a prequel, or something in-between. In that case, why shoot at Malta’s facilities at all when they already are shooting in facilities at Sky Studios?

The Malta Film Studios offers, among other facilities, two infinite-horizon water tanks that film productions generally use for large-scale sound effects and underwater shooting.”

Well, the article reveals the possible answer for that, too. “Water tanks.” Big ones. The filmmakers must have known of them from when they filmed ‘Dominion’ and remembered for this film. Does this spell a return for the popular Mosasaur, as featured in the ‘Jurassic World’ trilogy? It is also possible we are getting an entirely new prehistoric sea reptile, such as a Plesiosaur. Or there could just be an intense sequence in the water without any dinosaur or prehistoric creature at all (but that would certainly be a missed opportunity). We’ll just have to wait and see.

There is still so much we don’t know about the new film from director Gareth Edwards and screenwriter David Koepp! It still hasn’t even been officially confirmed that star Scarlett Johanson is truly in the film (although the safety of that rumor is pretty much guaranteed at this point). What we do know is that all of us are excited to find out on July 2nd, 2025!

Are you intrigued by this news? Do you still think we’ll see any of the Malta locations from ‘Dominion?’ Will the mosasaur make a return? Leave your comments below and stay tuned to Jurassic Outpost for the latest!

Jonathan Bailey Circling Lead Role in Jurassic World 4

British actor Jonathan Bailey is casting his British eyes on the upcoming British movie Jurassic World 4. Deadline is reporting that the British Bridgerton star may have found his next role in the upcoming Jurassic Park sequel alongside Scarlett Johansson – who also now appears to be confirmed.

The actor is British and filming will be taking place in Britain, as well as Thailand and Malta!

Bailey has strong ties with Universal as he is set to appear in its anticipated Wicked adaptation. The studio is high on the project after making it the big reveal during its CinemaCon presentation, and sources they were high on his performance following the shoot.

On top of Wicked, Bailey is also coming off Fellow Travelers. The limited series also starred Matt Bomer and earned Bailey a Critics Choice Award for his work, making him a frontrunner in the Emmy race.

British born director Gareth Edwards is helming the picture and filming is expected to take place June – October of this year, with the release date July 2nd 2025 set in stone.

What do you make of this casting and what kind of role would you like him to play? Other names rumored to be in talks are Colman Domingo, Dev Patel, and Nicholas Hoult. Those names come from DanielRPK and were not reported by Deadline.

Time Travel To A ‘Bygone’ Era In A New Short Dinosaur Film!

The Jurassic fan community is thriving as we all wait on the new Gareth Edwards film for the franchise. More people are creating original content than ever, either based on the Jurassic films or featuring dinosaur-related stories. Earlier this week we had the fan film by Muzzammil Shaik, and later in June there will be a new season of the fan-made audio drama ‘Tales From A Jurassic World.’ Today, we have a new dinosaur-related film from Cretaceous Cast called ‘Bygone‘! [Note: This film includes strong language for mature audiences only.]

Synopsis:

Materials have run out. Corporations go back in time to areas of rock swept away in the present to mine. They believe this will stop paradoxes, but the ecosystem of Morrison Formation Colorado appears to be dying.

The sands of time are better left undisturbed.

Loosely inspired by concepts from Ray Bradbury’s classic ‘A Sound Of Thunder,’ the short fan film ‘Bygone’ is a fantastic sci-fi excursion with a fun premise. Written & directed by Spenser Mehew and beautifully shot by Clay Bowen, capturing the interiors with warm diffusion and the landscapes with glistening beauty… then inky-black suspense.

The big question on your mind probably is: do we see any dinosaurs in this dinosaur film? There’s a couple… including one with a unique quality that I won’t spoil!

Watch the film now for yourself, and then listen to Decennial’s wonderful original music score on its own! Also, check out Cretaceous Cast’s ‘Jurassic Park’ fan film from a few years ago, ‘Jurassic Park: 1999!’

What did you think of ‘Bygone’? Have you been enjoying this surge of fan creations? Are you going to make something yourself? Share your comments below, and stay tuned to Jurassic Outpost for the latest!

RUMOR: Dev Patel in talks for role in Jurassic World 4

According to industry writer/influencer Daniel Richtman, British actor and filmmaker Dev Patel is in talks for a role in the next Jurassic movie, Jurassic World 4!

(Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage)

The actor began his career in the British teen drama Skins and made his film debut with director Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.

Dev has had a prolific career since, most recently directing and starring in the highly praised Monkey Man.

While we cannot verify this information, the rumor itself is exciting. An actor of his caliber taking on a Jurassic is just what we need.

Share your thoughts below!

(Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)

New Jurassic Fan-Film Ready to AMBUSH You!

While we all wait for the next official installment of the Jurassic franchise, fans are hard at work, bringing their own stories to life. With dinosaurs roaming rampant across the globe by the end of ‘Jurassic World: Dominion,’ there are endless possibilities and stories to tell of chance encounters with these wonderful, yet dangerous, animals. One such fan, Muzzammil Shaik, released his newest fan-film this morning.

AMBUSH’ follows an individual listening to a podcast that reports on incidents and news revolving around the prehistoric creatures now cohabiting on our planet. A few surprises lie in store for viewers as a few characters and creatures from Jurassic stories past make appearances. And be sure to stay during the credits!

“They have set up a Jurassic “World” of opportunities,” Muzzammil said when asked what prompted the short. With projects like ‘AMBUSH,’ he hopes to encourage fans of all kinds to tell their own stories. “I plan to write down whatever comes to me. This one was big for me because it’s an idea I had since ‘Battle at Big Rock.’ Also, anyone who’s seen the ‘Jurassic World’ Resort TV segments, I do plan to make more in the future especially to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 2015 film coming up. Ultimately, I encourage [other] fans to continue to share stories in any format you see fit. It’s inspiring and fun to see what you all come up with!”

You can watch AMBUSH below!

See Jurassic Park’s Original T-Rex In A Video Uncovering Tim Lawrence’s Files!

Jurassic Time unveils a very special short documentary: ‘Jurassic Park’s Original T-Rex: The Tim Lawrence Files.’ Discover an unknown history behind the most famous dinosaur ever featured on film. Tim Lawrence was the first to design the Tyrannosaurus Rex for the classic movie. He worked on special creature effects for films like ‘Ghostbusters 2,’ ‘Harry and the Hendersons,’ & ‘Gremlins 2.’ Tim was a man of many talents, and great aspirations, until he sadly passed away in 2019.

During his career, Tim Lawrence was one of the first people employed for Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel: ‘Jurassic Park.’ At this time, he helped create the very first incarnation of the film’s T-Rex. Despite this milestone, after the film went on hiatus during Spielberg’s production of ‘Hook,’ Tim was replaced by Stan Winston for unknown reasons. But the story of Tim Lawrence’s time on ‘Jurassic Park’ is still one that should be remembered. It’s an important piece of the film’s history; one that has never been told in any book or program.

Pre-production image featuring Tim Lawrence, in the grey ‘Les Misérables’ shirt, near Steven Spielberg among others.

Years before his death, Tim listed several auctions of his ‘Jurassic Park’ items on eBay. He provided several pictures and context for all of them, and most have never been seen before. Using these sources, and a few others, I (Derrick Davis) compiled them into a story that are all Tim’s words; with short connective phrases to string them together. Voice actor J. Malone respectively recorded them. While this section of the presentation isn’t Tim’s voice, they are his stories. May he live on in memory…

Mark Hallett designs and notes for the T-Rex.

The video includes an array of rare and never-before-seen images from the production of ‘Jurassic Park,’ including concept art by Mark Hallett, designs by Bob Gurr, and images of Tim’s models, and scans of photographs. As J. tells Tim’s story, it is accompanied with music by Bernard A. Kyer from the game ‘Jurassic Explorer.’

Bob Gurr T-Rex animatronic design.

Some may balk at the design being more fantasy-like in approach, but this was what Spielberg asked for. It is clear, through Tim’s words, that Spielberg wanted a more character-oriented approach to the dinosaur than accuracy. Opinions obviously changed over time, and perhaps that is why he was replaced by Stan Winston later on. Still, one wonders why Tim wasn’t simply given another chance at it? We’ll probably never know. ‘Jurassic Park’ had an extensive pre-production phase compared to many films, especially unique in that it began before the book was even published. Early scripts by Crichton himself were dated months before it was on store shelves!

Additional designs by Tim, nicknamed “Curious” & “Furious.”

Tim Lawrence was a talent that will not be forgotten, and I wanted his story about his time on ‘Jurassic Park’ to finally be out there for everyone to appreciate. He was an important piece of this classic film’s history that needed to finally get a spotlight. I hope it was all done in a tasteful manner for everyone. It was an emotional experience working on this. Hopefully that all shows through in the presentation.

What do you think of Tim’s T-Rex design, despite it being more of a movie monster? Do you wish it had at least been used in another film, like an adaptation of Conan Doyle’s ‘Lost World’ or a ‘King Kong’-type story? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and stay tuned to Jurassic Outpost for the latest (and the past)!

UPDATE: Download Tim’s original files here.

You Can Now WISHLIST Jurassic Park Survival!

The upcoming single-player adventure game from Saber Interactive is now available to add to your wishlist on the platform of your choice.

The studio behind the video game were recently sold from their parent company and many worried the game may suffer delays – or even a potential cancellation. Luckily the studio confirmed nothing had changed.

The game is still in active development and while no release date is set, we are expecting it to come out in 2025.

Today the official account of the game shared the update and the official website updated to include links to wishlist the game on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation store and the Xbox store.

Which platform will you be playing the game on? Comment below!

New Global Filming Locations and Dates for Jurassic World 4 Revealed

According to a new listing from an industry source, Jurassic World 4 is getting set to film in the UK (as previously reported) and also Thailand and Malta! The production is said to begin June 17th of this year and continue through October 18th.

It seems Gareth Edwards’ Jurassic movie will return to locations familiar to him, with his last feature The Creator being filmed partially in Thailand, and familiar to the Jurassic franchise, with Malta being the site of a major set piece in Jurassic World: Dominion.

Watch our full breakdown of the new production news and read more below!

Thanks to Reel News Hawaii we received a production listing that reveals some exciting new information about the next Jurassic movie! The source is considered legitimate but unfortunately based on their own terms we cannot show the image of the listing (although it wouldn’t be too hard to find yourself) – but we can examine the details.

The details relating to the production companies involved all align and for obvious reasons we don’t need to dive into those specifics.

The previously rumored Hawaii and Los Angeles locations are not in this listing, but Thailand and Malta are! Thailand is certainly a new location for the franchise – the islands of Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna have always been represented by the islands of Hawaii. Jurassic Park 3 briefly considered New Zealand for filming, but as we know the movie ultimately did film on the islands of Oahu and Kauai, as well as extensive indoor studio work.

Thailand is an absolutely beautiful country – and a place director Gareth Edwards is familiar with. His latest feature The Creator filmed on location in Bangkok and other locations in Thailand, and Gareth seems to love a bit of globe-trotting – all of his movies have filmed in diverse and wonderful locations around the world. Plus, the coastlines of Thailand alone give off major Jurassic Park island vibes.

We don’t know what the story is and we don’t know when this movie will be set, so at this point we can’t say how they will be utilizing Thailand as a location. But what do you think? Do you believe Thailand will be standing in as the infamous islands’ coastlines?

Let’s talk about the other location – Malta. Fans of the franchise will recognize this location as the black market in Jurassic World: Dominion. A fairly large chunk of that movie filmed on location in Malta, the dinosaur black market was a major plot point in the movie, and it’s where we finally meet Barry again after he went missing for an entire movie.

The return of Malta could very much indicate that we will be seeing Dominion locations again, which might be telling us that this movie is indeed going to be a sequel, set in a world after Jurassic World: Dominion. However, it could be unrelated entirely. Malta is a diverse and beautiful location, one Gareth and his cinematographer surely have many plans for.

The last location on the listing is London, UK, which as previously reported likely indicates sounds stage and studio filming, but could mean more diverse locations for the film.

The final piece of news to discuss from this listing is the filming dates themselves. We have all been hearing JUNE as a “cameras start rolling date” but this production listing seems to have confirmed as such:

Jurassic World 4 will be filming from June 17th to October 18th, 2024.

Also, the title and information on the listing is worth discussing. The title is “JURASSIC WORLD 4” but it then goes on to say “aka JURASSIC CITY / JURASSIC PARK REBOOT.”

The “JURASSIC PARK REBOOT” is making us wonder what the movie might be. It’s not a remake, but the term brings to mind that maybe it won’t be tying itself to the previous movies as much as we thought, or perhaps maybe it’s not a direct sequel to what has come before…

Or maybe, that information on this listing doesn’t mean too much. We will have to see how it all plays out.

Thank you again to our friends at Reel News for sharing this with us! While we cannot 100% confirm this information, it is from a very legitimate source and the details appear to line up, including the numbers and emails connected to it. If you do find it, no, please do not go emailing and phoning those numbers!

And remember, things like film productions are always subject to change.

What do you think of these new filming locations and dates and how do you think they will be utilized? Will we see a return of the dinosaur black market, of the Jurassic Park islands, or are we about to get something entirely new?

Let us know your thoughts down below, and stay tuned to Jurassic Outpost for the latest.

3rd ANNUAL DINOSAURS & MOR! EVENT THIS APRIL!

Museum of the Rockies isn’t just where Dr. Grant works. Every spring, for the last three years, MOR has hosted a special gathering that brings science and the public together.

April 12th through the 14th, the Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, MT) will be hosting its annual Dinosaurs & MOR! event. Similar to other events, like Burpee Museum’s (Rockford, IL) PaleoFest (which just hosted its twenty-sixth event this past March,) Dinos & MOR! is meant to bring the public and many influential paleontologists together for a weekend full of education, inspiration, and dino-mite fun!

Over the course of the three-day event, scientists from around the world will give presentations on the latest research, finds, and news in the world of paleontology to the public. Some of the presenters in attendance will be  Dr. Stephanie Drumheller, Dr. Thomas Holtz, Dr. Caleb Brown, Dr. M. Eugenia Gold, Dr. Stephen Brusatte, and many many more.

Along with the presentations, there will also be lots of other breakout activities as well. Art shows, auctions, special workshops, dino puppet-building classes, and more, the team at MOR has carefully crafted the event so that there would be something that appeals to everyone.

The event kicks off on Friday, April 12th, with a Members-Only Appreciation Night (5:30 – 8:00 PM MDT.) Then Saturday, April 13th, marks Day 1 of lectures and workshops (9:00 AM – 4:30 PM MDT), which culminates to the Dinner with Keynote Lecture from Dr. Stephen Brusatte (6:30 PM MDT.) Sunday, April 14th, is Day 2 of lectures/workshops and the final day of the event (9:00 AM – 4:30 PM MDT.)

Event tickets include general museum admission but please note that some workshops, breakaway sessions, and the dinner/key-note lecture require additional tickets or registration. You purchase your tickets, register for workshops, and find the entire lineup for Dinosaurs & MOR!, here!