Jurassic Park IV (Pre Production - Information)

Numerous sites are reporting that The 4th jurassic park is in late-pre production heading for filming. here are some information from FilmForce:
February 14, 2005 - Jurassic Park IV is in early preparations for filming, and the latest script news confirms that the new sequel will be closely based on the first movie. According to Rope of Silicon.com, the screenplay turned in by William Monahan involves most of the original film's characters. Almost all the original Jurassic Park actors are expected to return, including Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough (John Hammond), and Ariana Richards (Hammond's granddaughter).

Although Rope of Silicon didn't mention it, writer John Sayles has been revising Monahan's screenplay, and there's no word yet on his progress. Sayles can be expected to lend his many years of filmmaking experience to the story penned by Monahan, an up-and-coming Hollywood writer.

Official confirmation on the cast is still forthcoming and might be dependent on the final screenplay. No announcements have been made regarding a director, but Spielberg is still involved in producing the film.

More evidence of active pre-production on JP4 comes from SKNR.net, who got word that paleontologist Dr. Jack Horner has been actively working as a scientific advisor for the film. Horner's expertise has been invaluable on the previous Jurassic Park films, and more on his involvement can be read here.

If all goes well, Jurassic Park IV could go before the cameras this summer and reach theaters before the end of the year.

If the screenplay isn't finished yet, there's no way that this will be out by the end of the year. While this news is from Feb., I highly doubt we will see this until at least Summer 2006.
Plus, a fourth film isn't necessary AT ALL. The third was a waste of time and the second was a disappointment. Even with all the cast members and the possible return of Spielberg, I can't see this movie being very good. Sure, it'll make $, and that's the ultimate goal I suppose, but it could end another faulty link to the Jurassic Park chain.

"Jurassic Park" was awesome. "JP2 The Lost World" Sucked so bad, it blew also. "JP3" was so so, but had a better storyline than 2. The way this series is going, the fourth will be dubbed Jurassic Poop! ;)



- Josh

So, who's directing, I don't think Spielberg will ever return to the JP series, and I hope Joe Johnston comes no where near this film (since JP3 was a total piece of crap)

The Jurassic Park franchise has real-potential in it. Even the lousy sequels had interesting parts to them. Such as the trailer sequence in JP2, other the raptors in the field in JP3 (coincidentally they had a good sequence of raptors in the field in JP2 as well). I just think they need to find a middle ground on all this. I for one would love to see a gritty, R-rated JP4 with lots of scary stuff and "cinematic gore" (I'll leave it to you to decipher that) with people stuck in underground complexes with raptors loose (JP1, only longer and better, with more close calls, not that the scene in JP1 didn't totally rock! But not so much in the dark so that the entire film is underground complexes... Resident Evil) and a good mix of ruined architecture and pristine environments. Basically lots of explosions, and more dinos fighting dinos, without a T-Rex getting his neck snapped in the first 30 seconds of a fight... :@. Like I said, I for one think Spielberg should have another go at the franchise, he seems to be in the vibe that I'm looking for right now (aside from the awful War of the Worlds... and the Terminal... and CMIYC... AND A.I. [sigh]) and could probably pull off some great cinema magic.

One thing that greatly distracted me on JPIII was that all the dinosaurs seemed purple. They looked nothing like the earth-toned brown and green of the previous films. JPII had great special effects but the plot seemed contrived (you think it's over? Well, there's ANOTHER island! Ha! And I didn't think to mention it until years later...) and the new characters did nothing for me. The return of Sam Neill in JPIII was a plus, but once again the new characters were lame, the film was too short and the "Army will save the day" ending doesn't work anymore. JPII is a pretty good flick, but nothing like JPI and it doesn't sit well next to other Spielberg flicks. Joe Johnston has done some great films, but JPIII is not one of them.

I agree. I feel it's a real testament to what Spielberg and co. accomplished in that the CG effects they produced then in '93 look better than most big-budget action films nowadays. It's always nice to have a film that doesn't show it's age after more than a decade (dear god am I really getting that old?)

Its been 12 years and two more movies since the first jurassic park and im still looking at all three movies and other films to find a better CG Shot than the the T-REX walking over the wire fence to the cars. Color Matching, animation, everything looks so damn real.

I found JPII to be a lot better than JPIII. Actually, JPII wasn't bad, but it wasn't great compared to JPI. I think the raptors are important but they didn't do anything new with them in the third film. We already know that they hunt in groups and can speak to each other. I do agree that they should get off the island, but JPIV wpould need Goldblum, Attenborough and/or Neill for me to be interested.

TGP,
In JP3, they went with Jack Horner's interpretation of what a dinosaur would most likely have looked like. These color patterns mimic patterns currently found in nature that distinguishes whether an animal is trying to intimidate, woo, whatever. According to the well-reputed Dinologist (made that one up), the flat earth tones were more likely artistic license than the more colorful ones.

Further on JP3: I thought this one was quite a bit better than JP2. Certainly not on par with JP1, it at least cut the melodramatic aspects of JP2 and focused on the action aspects. Was there story? Not a lot, but I enjoyed the characters and the pacing was excellent. I'll take this popcorn movie with extra salt, thank you.

As for JP4: Leave the raptors out! Every time we come back to the raptors. While they are fascinating, it's time to move on. Also, get off the island... but do it WELL this time. JP2 was uninspired and while I relished the thought of a T-Rex running down a city street, I wish it had been in a different movie.

Thougths on JP4: This should be a film about people who are not experts in the field. Have dinosaurs take over a resort island or something, and the protagonists have to escape.

The fundamental issue is that without any kind of military involvement, these people would never be able to defeat real, live dinosaurs, so the survival aspect is all the film can go on. If you care enough about the characters and the atmosphere is suspenseful enough, I think it can be pulled off. I would go with someone other than Joe Johnston who directed JP3. Though he has an eye for visuals, this one would call for tight pacing and decent character development to involve the audience in the story.

Sean (looking... looking... crap... can anyone loan me 2 cents?...) :D