Another monster hit from Spielberg

IT'S been dubbed the sequel of the century. The Lost World: Jurassic Park has been on release for just two weeks in the US and has already broken every box office record. Dinosaurs, and the never ending trail of merchandise that accompanies them, are big business.

The president of distribution at Universal Studios, which released the film, put his finger on it when asked recently how the movie had managed to take in $90.1 million in four days.

"I knew it would be big but I didn't know it would be this big," said Nikki Rocco. "It doesn't surprise me though, given that it's the master, Steven Spielberg."

Spielberg the master. The man who is bringing his movie making vision to Ireland at the end of the month to recreate the DDay landings on a Co Wexford beach.

If anyone else had tried to create a sequel to Jurassic Park, the near perfect adventure movie which itself broke global box office figures, Universal might now be praying that they merely got back a return on their investment. Instead, they are laughing all the way to the bank.

The film took $74 million (just $1 million less than it cost to make the film) in its first three days, breaking the $52 million record held by Batman Forever. It took just five days to reach the revered $100 million mark, compared to Independence Day's seven.

It grossed $22 million in its first day of release, another record. It took $2.6 million in sneak preview tickets. Put simply, if there were Oscars awarded for broken records, Spielberg would be carting home an awful lot of gold plate.

There were rumours that Spielberg, was offered a $95 million budget to make The Lost World, his second film based on dinosaurs. The story goes that, with typical thriftiness, he turned it down, opting instead for $75 million. The movie was completed on schedule and within budget.

Pundits were surprised that he agreed to the studio's requests at all. This was the man who refused to do a sequel to ET because it was "perfect". He would have nothing to do with Jaws 2, saying nothing could persuade him to "get back on the water".

There was the Indiana Jones trilogy but, this aside, it was thought that with the acclaimed Schindler's List Spielberg had achieved a gravitas that had hitherto eluded him.

Some commentators feel his decision to make a second Jurassic Park film could have been because he knew that if he didn't do it someone else would, badly. One of thousands of letters sent to Universal Studios pleading for a sequel to Jurassie Park begged filmmakers "not to put a long, boring part at the beginning that has nothing to do with the island".

David Koepp, the screenwriter who is thought to have been paid $1.5 million to adapt Michael Crichton's novel, took the above eight year old's comments on board. "In the original you wanted them [the characters] to shut up and go stand on a hill where you can see the dinosaurs," he says. "The premise of these movies is so exciting that the usual cat and mouse game doesn't work."

The result was a movie that has had men, women and children queueing outside an unprecedented 3,300 cinemas across the US.

Spielberg calls it a "darker" Jurassic Park. It is bigger, naturally, with herds and flocks of dinosaurs - 10 species compared to a paltry five in the original. It stars a complete Tyrannosaurus Rex family: the mother, her impossibly authentic looking baby and her very significant other.

The action takes place on a lush island which is largely destroyed by the animals who go on to cause havoc in downtown San Diego. The scientists are conservationists, as opposed to the naturedefying meddlers portrayed so effectively in Jurassic Park.

In the movie it is six years since the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park came to a sticky end, although we have only waited for three. And in the best tradition of adventure movies, there are rumours that something has survived. And something has.

There is a theory that the huge numbers that flocked to the opening screenings were the victims of a sort of subliminal advertising. For months now, the US has been flooded with all things Jurassic. There are Jurassic chocolate bars, chewing gum, water bottles, video games, cereals, cookies, a Mercedes car and the obligatory cuddly toy.

But despite the huge ticket sales at the early screenings of The Lost World, it is not expected to surpass the success of the original, which took almost $1 billion globally. In fact there was a 62 per cent drop in earnings during the second weekend of its release.

"In my opinion, The Lost World will not equal or surpass Jurassic Park, domestically or internationally," Spielberg told the New York Times.

And if there is to be a third Jurassie Park film, he has confirmed he will not be found behind the camera. "If The Lost World was successful enough to justify a third film you would probably see me producing it but not directing it."

Those wishing to change his mind should take a trip to Wexford in a few weeks where Spielberg will be shooting the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan, a war film starring Tom Hanks. Insiders say it will take the director back to Schindler's List territory. Meaning, locals hope, there won't be a dinosaur in sight.