"Jurassic Park" Sequel Expected to Do Monster Business

By JOHN HORN
AP Entertainment Writer

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) -- Tyrannosaurus rex, your mission -- if you choose to accept it -- is to devour the record set last year by "Mission: Impossible."

"The Lost World: Jurassic Park" opens Thursday night and, if it"s as big a box office monster as movie executives think, it may surpass Tom Cruise"s "Mission: Impossible" as the highest-grossing movie ever over a four-day opening.

"We"re putting it somewhere between $65 million and $75 million," one executive at a rival studio projected.

That would render extinct the four-day record of $56.8 million.

One of the top executives behind 1993"s "Jurassic Park" said the sequel will take in $80 million this weekend.

The original "Jurassic Park" is the all-time international box-office champ, with global ticket grosses of $556 million. In its first three days, "Jurassic Park" grossed a then-record $50.2 million.

The earning potential of the sequel will be helped by rising ticket prices -- $9 in New York -- and the widest release ever. The film is opening at 3,000 theater locations on as many as 5,000 screens, according to trade estimates.

"You never know, you don"t know what people want," said "Lost World" star Jeff Goldblum. "But I know that dinosaurs are in the brain. And the movie at this point really seems to be catching people"s interest."

Among movie-goers surveyed by the National Research Group a week before the opening, 25 percent said it was their first choice of upcoming films, compared to 15 percent for the typical blockbuster.

In survey"s this week, after days of advertising hype, "Lost World"s" rating soared to 33 percent.

MovieFone, an advance-order ticket service in 30 cities, said the number of "Lost World" calls have exceeded any movie since "Jurassic Park."

The sequel follows Goldblum as he tries to rescue his naturalist girlfriend (Julianne Moore) from a dinosaur-infested island where big-game hunters try to bag a few of the reptiles.

Although the film is an obvious crowd-pleaser, some critics say it is not as good as the original, which many reviewers claimed wasn"t all that good either.

But if it ain"t broke, don"t fix it, say writers.

"The audience goes in saying, "I don"t want the same thing again -- but don"t you dare change it!"" said the film"s screenwriter, David Koepp.

Movie-goers appear to know what they want in the film, and dialogue is not high on the list.

"I"m looking forward to the release if for no other reason than the special effects," said Jason Rawls, 25, of Burbank. "The film should be no less than spectacular."

Said Angel Cabrera, 25, of Mission Hills: "The first movie amazed me. The effects were mind-boggling and I just know the sequel will be better than the first."