Jurassic Park 4...what in the heck are they thinking?

That's the general rule with sequels; the original is the benchmark, two is normally pretty good, as well, then if they're smart--which they're usually not--they stop after that.

There's no real reason to ever make another "Jurassic Park" movie but if they insist, they just need to crash a plane or a boat full of people onto Site B and have another 90-120 minutes of people getting eaten by dinosaurs. I know it's not original at all but it's entertaining, and this "Dino-people" concept has been making the rounds for a few years and nobody seems to like it. They just need to stick with what works. I think people hold the first film to a ridiculously high standard and they unfairly bash the sequels but in my eyes, they're all roughly the same quality-wise. All you need is Stan Winston & ILM doing the effects and a capable director like Joe Johnston (obviously, Spielberg is fully capable but his talents went to waste on the first two) and some terrific actors (which this series has always been filled with) and the script would practically write itself.

That dino people thing is just a little too far fetched for me if it is true. I wasn't that crazy about part 3, and I don't know if I'd see part 4. I liked the first 2 a lot though.

Do the Dinosaur people still have guns? That was a major part of the script when written by John Sayles, genetically engineered dinosaur soldiers.

I'm not making this up.

I'm not that retarded.

Oh I know you're not. There was that script review a while back where the dinosaurs were used for military purposes. If I can remember, it got such a huge backlash that the script was ultimately rejected and explains why there's been such a long delay in the making of the fourth film. The original release date was supposed to be 2005 if I can remember. 4 years between each film.

links don't work anymore, what was the story and pic about?

That's almost as bad as zombies using guns.

Wasn't the story for part 4 straight from Spielberg? He kept saying in interviews how he had an awesome idea for the fourth film.

Here's the script review for one of the drafts of "Jurassic Park IV". This was the one that I think nearly killed it from being made after all the negative feedback.

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=18166

I don't know, but I suspect it may be because you don't have the "http" in the links.

If these rumours are true about JP4, then I just don't know wha is going on with this property. I actually thought, if you take the talking raptors out (because that was a dumb idea) JP3 was actually pretty entertaining, with some pretty exciting scenes - we finally got to see the aviary that was in the original book, for a start. It wasn't groundbreaking, but it had people being chased by dinosaurs and didn't try to be about anything out.

But dinosaur soldiers? How do people think this is a good idea? Especially someone of the calibre of Speilberg. And how on earth does someone like John Sayles write this material? All I can think (hope) is that it's some kind of huge misinformation campaign to keep the really good idea secret - except that's not going to happen, since they're basically killing all interest in the property.

Unless the ideas improve markedly, they should just let the series fade into extinction.

That "Troodon" maquette is a prop that was made for a dinosaur documentary that aired on the Discovery Channel YEARS AGO. It was most certainly not created by anyone working on pre-production for Jurassic Park IV. The whole thing smells like fish to me.

*sigh*

And of course the first paragraph of the actual write up includes:



No one is pretending it is pre-production art from JP4 in the first place.

For some odd reason, in the end, the only thought that went through my head was:

Gotta Love the Baby!

I thought they did this movie already. It was called Alien : Resurretion.

I agree with Bill, you can't go wrong with dinosaurs chasing people. JP3 was a fun movie. JP4 should follow the mold. If not, return to the (somewhat) more cerebral stylings of the original.

What I don't understand about number 2 was why it deviated so much from the book. Crichton obviously wrote the sequel to become a movie, including some fantastic chameleon dinos. I was looking forward to seeing ILM realize the complex chameleons, and was stunned that something so strongly visual was cut from the movie concept.

What I want to see in JP4 is what was really never done in the first three. You saw the hunter with a shotgun in the first one do nothing. In the second one you see abunch of yahoos with 16s and HKs get torn up. In the third a 20mm AT rifle that does nothing. I want to see the humans give some back. Have a raptor attack where some 7.62 and 5.56 rips a few of them down. Have a T Rex tear apart a group of people while its getting torn apart by MG3s and M203s. Maybe even a LeopardII going against the BigMFosaurus. Apaches and pterosaurs. I want to see gunfight at the JP corral.

Imagine in 1932 or so, Cooper saying to Fay, "There's this big giant monkey and he's got the hots for you. He's going to carry you up to the top of the Empire State Building."

The point I was making was what a bizarre and unbelievable story King Kong was before it was filmed, before the public viewed it. A giant monkey...a giant monkey with a thing for blonds? Yet, its a classic. A bizarre idea can be done well and be believable, done poorly and its a farce.

King Kong is a fantasy, there is no evidence that a 25' ape has ever lived on this planet. However, there's plenty of evidence dinosaurs have.

I once read a sci-fi novel with the premise that evolution took a different turn. Dinos kept evolving and became the sentient creatures on earth. I thought it was an interesting idea and still do.

Also, if you except that man can create dinosaurs, why is it so difficult to accept that man could gentically manipulate them into some sort of soldier?

Consider also that a core element of the Alien movies is a search for the aliens for the "weapons" division of a corporation.

I thought he wrote it at the same time they were writing #2 or something like that.

I was just reading the Spielberg edition of the "Interviews" collection by U of Miss, and he is discussing JP2 and its creation, both in interviews before it and after.

Discussing the sequel project Peter Biskind (who wrote the article) says "The project got a much needed boost when Michael Crichton came on board to write a sequel to the best-seller on which JP was based."

Which implies clearly that the project was already in motion to some degree before the sequel. Writer Koepp shared credit on the original, but was credited as the sole writer of the sequel.

Later from Biskind - "While Chrichton was writing his Lost World novel, Spielberg and Koepp kept bouncing ideas back and forth."

And finally - "Much of the Crichton novel was eventually tossed. 'I couldn't find a lot of story narrative in the middle part,' explains Spielberg. 'But the setup was excellent and he certainly put us on the right road." Spielberg also retained a big set piece in the middle of the book, in which the laboratory trailer - really two trailers connected by a rubberized umbilical cord - are pushed over a cliff by the angry rexes."


Sounds very much like a dual writing along the lines of 2001 than a process of book property purchased with the intent of making it into a film. The sequel was likely to happen regardless of Chrichton's choice to write one himself.



Also SS discusses the "why" behind doing the sequel - he felt he owed it to people/kids that he said no to with doing an E.T. sequel.

From Kathleen Kennedy on how the sequels to Jaws helped inspire SS to be involved and even direct The Lost World - "(They were) inferior frankly, and many people think he still had something to do with them. So there's a proprietary creative interest to protect and ensure the quality."

But SS contradicts this a little in terms of JP vs an ET sequel - "I never felt the same way about JP. I didn't think it was a perfect film, and it wasn't so close to my heart that I needed to protect the integrity of a follow-up by preventing anybody else from doing one, which I certainly had the right to do. Among the films that I really think are good movies that I've directed, it's not even in the top five."

Then he goes on to mention how because of this less personal feeling about it he felt bad saying no to the kids asking for a sequel to a film that wasn't so personal to him.

Still, can't be worse than JP2. What a horrid wreck of a movie.

That'll teach me to comment on something I didn't actually read. I just looked at the image and considered the source (AICN), and then went no further. My bad.

I *have* however been handed some insider info on what the "evolved dinos" in JP4 will ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE!!! I'm ready to share it with HTF, but PLEASE don't ask me to reveal my source. This is a an Internet exclusive folks. I don't wanna hear anyone saying they didn't see it here first:

Sleestaks! OMG!

Thanks Greg, you made my morning.

That's a Gorn from Star Trek TOS.
Very funny BTW!

He was referring to my pics of Sleestaks higher in the thread. Glad to make your Monday morning brighter, Brett.

Well as per ign.com, it's on the back burner pending Bourne Ultimatum with Matt Damon, then Indy 4. It looks like a couple of years down the road if anything.

I like the idea. Didn't they say in J3 that the dino's were evolving? It beats the same old chase chase chase. At least have it end with the Dinosauroid.

Link