Jurassic Park Blu-Ray Officially Announced!

At long last, Universal Studios finally unveiled their release plans for Jurassic Park on Blu-Ray. While I am sad they didn’t use my design, I am excited these films will finally be released this October 25th.

The cases they did decide to release, well…they’re not perfect.

I won’t be getting that T-Rex statue edition, mostly for a few minor gripes. The dino’s stance is weird as his feet are side-by-side - they could have made a more dynamic pose with one foot forward. Currently it’s like he is standing still while in the middle of crashing through the gate. His mouth also reminds me of a hand puppet. The T-Rex appearance overall pales in comparison to this beautiful maquette:

Also I am not a fan of portrayals that did not occur in the movie. The T-Rex did not smash through the iconic gate. When I set out to create my Blu-Ray designs (as crude as they are), I strive to deliver a souvenir case that makes you feel like you are owning a piece of the film, or recreating a scene in a way. The statue is just a basic mash-up of the ‘T-Rex roars while banner falls scene’ and the ‘King Kong’ gate. I see what they are going for here: cram all the essential elements of JP into one object. It’s fan service, even if it compromises the film somewhat. Reminds me of the movie poster of Escape from New York, where the head of the Statue of Liberty is laying in the street, but was not shown in the film (this poster would later inspire Cloverfield).

The wood crate box irks me. It looks ugly. They should have saved that for the Indiana Jones or The Mummy Blu-Ray collections. I prefer the one used in the mockups seen last month.

The amaray case design has taken it’s look from Jurassic Park III. Not a bad thing exactly, but it’s missing the bright yellow color seen in the logo from the first film, as well as the solid black background. The fan-made version looked better, because it looked so Jurassic Park. The disc art shown says “we can’t be bothered”.

A certificate of authenticity - who clamors for those ever? I would have loved an art book featuring the concept designs from the film, or behind-the-scenes photographs showing Spielberg and Winston bringing these dinosaurs to life. Perhaps a CD featuring John Williams’ score? Anything but a piece of paper.

Make no mistake, I will be getting these films, I cannot wait. However I just feel so much opportunity wasted here, so much left on the table. The Blu-Ray format has been around for 5 years, this looks it was given 5 days to plan.

Here is hoping they included a plethora of special features and bonus content on the discs. Otherwise I’ll be waiting for the re-release that coincides with Jurassic Park 4.