Jurassic World Movie : The Success and The Bonds with Audience

Forbes.com

Okay... I know this article is soooooo too late. I should've posted this months ago when the topic was still warm. However, since the idea has popped out in my head, I would get headache if I did not pour this down. Besides, there might be some people who did not notice before about this.

Jurassic World is a new sequel of the preceding Jurassic Park movies trilogy. I think I will not have to tell the story since most of you might have known that this movie is mainly about dinosaurs. Furthermore, (unexpectedly) this movie successfully gained a huge mass attention and an amazing amount of profit. This great success is far beyond what has been predicted before. Jurassic World broke the record by becoming one of the most successful movie of all time. Put behind Titanic and Avatar, Jurassic World was third one on the list.

Of all the factors that brought Jurassic World to success, there is one simple and logical factor but may not be realized by the audience : Jurassic World came at the right time.

Despite of its purpose to bring nostalgic moments to adult audience (yes, we can obviously recognize this from the movie scenes), there is also relevant factor that Jurassic World was worthy to be launched at this time.

Jurassic Park was a big hit in 1993. There was no movie before that unify many elements (family, action, thriller movie) involving the dinosaur at that time. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard (the main actors on Jurassic World) were around 12-13 years old when Jurassic Park was screened and they admitted being amazed by the movie. Many adults at the same age brought their children to the cinema on Jurassic World screening in 2015. Beside nostalgia, they wanted to show to their children the movie that made them amazed when they were still kids. Consider if the current adults were at that age in 1993, most of them might already have kids now that could be brought to cinema to feel similar thrill.

Mosasaurus (Forbes.com)

Jurassic World also grabbed other kids and teenage audiences by showing enormous creatures like Mosasaurus and Indominus Rex. The stunning gigantic battle also stuck their gaze at the screen.

So we found that initially Jurassic World were created to bring nostalgic moments to adult audience. But, whether intentionally or not, it also grabbed kids and teenager audiences. This large scale of market is one element that brought the movie to the biggest hit of all time.

Thanks to Jurassic World, it brought fortunes to several parties. Universal studios became the first ever studio who had three films that cross $1 billion internationally in a year. They are Jurassic World, Furious 7, and Minions. The movie director, Colin Trevorrow, was also selected to direct Star Wars : Episode IX from the incoming Star Wars movie trilogy. The Jurassic World movie itself was also planned for its sequel in 2018 - following the first movie success.

[SPOILER ALERT. The next passage might be spoiler if you had not watch the movie(s)]

Obviously, the creator wanted to relate Jurassic World with the first big-hit Jurassic Park movie. There are scenes in Jurassic World that remind us of the first movie in 1993. Some of them I recognized right at the time I watched the scenes at the cinema. 

A Scene from Jurassic Park (1993) (empireonline.com)

1. The technician at the control room was wearing a t-shirt with a logo of the first Jurassic Park and he talked a lot about it. If you had watched Jurassic Park, you must be really understand what he was talking about.

2. The Jeep that was found by the brothers at the forest was the Jeep that was being used to drive around in Jurassic Park.

3. The original Jurassic Park music score by John Williams was played occasionally during the scenes.

4. Dr. Henry Wu in Jurassic World's laboratory was the young Dr. Wu at Jurassic Park's lab.

5. The scene when the brothers were trapped inside the glass ball and Indominus Rex tried to break the glass using its snout and jaw reminded us when Tim and Lex was trapped inside the electric car and Tyrannosaurus Rex was attacking the car from above at Jurassic Park.

6. The camera angle when Raptors were chasing Claire, Zach, and Gary when riding an ambulance was similar to the moment when Ellie and his friend was saving Dr. Ian Malcolm and T-Rex was chasing the Jeep they were riding in Jurassic Park movie.

There were still a lot easter eggs that other observers found at the movie that connect Jurassic World with the first movie. You can google it or you can observe it yourself by paying attention on details while watching the movies.

Dinosaur Whisperer (wired.com)

Sources :

- http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/06/jurassic-world-billion-international-box-office
- http://m.metrotvnews.com/read/2015/09/08/167051
- Jurassic World : The Secret to Its Success by Genevieve Hassan (http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33078934)
- How Jurassic World Became One of The Biggest Blockbuster of All Time (http://flavorwire.com/526224/how-jurassic-world-became-one-of-the-biggest-blockbusters-of-all-time)
- http://www.slashfilm.com/jurassic-world-easter-eggs/

Trip to : Singapore - S.E.A. Aquarium and Trick Eye Museum at Sentosa Island

Last 27th of August was my girlfriend’s birthday. Previously, I had no idea of what kind of gift I was going to give to her beside the video that I had made. Particularly, in this town there are not many choices of goods that I perceived suitable to become a gift for the loved ones. So, instead of giving in form of goods, I decided to give an intangible one. I wanted to give another memories because it will last much longer than tangible goods. Goods can be broken or lost but memories cannot unless you’ve got brainwashed, have amnesia or short-term memory. I took her for another trip to Singapore for our date.

There are many tour destinations in Singapore. Even though I had been to Singapore several times (Do not blame me. The ticket is much cheaper than Batam - Jakarta trip), I had not got time to visit them all yet. In Sentosa Island itself, there are many attractions to visit. This time I want to take my lover to S.E.A. Aquarium because I think it might be fun and romantic for oceanic background to accompany our date. Fortunately, the S.E.A. Aquarium was having a bundle promo with the relatively new attraction : Trick Eye Museum Singapore.

I had known earlier that Singapore has one big aquarium attraction in Sentosa Island. It reminds me of my memory long time ago when visiting similar attraction in Jakarta which is located in Ancol, North Jakarta : SeaWorld Indonesia. The S.E.A. Aquarium consists of several aquariums with many kind of sea animals that were originated from various locations around Asia. Located near Universal Studio Singapore, there is a huge dome with the title “The Maritime Experiential Museum” and “S.E.A. Aquarium”.

 Entering the gate, you will be welcomed by a giant lion head. Apparently, it was a head of a ship replica. The ship was belong to Zheng He (or some of us might know him as Cheng Ho), a great Chinese sea explorer in history. Beneath the Lion’s head, a video was played, telling us a story about Zheng He’s journey. After watching the video, we can go to the left side of the dome which is a museum about Asia’s maritime exploration in history. The museum displayed the information about how market trade and culture transfer was done through the sea, the marketed goods, and the artefacts that were founded under the sea route. There were several ports that played major role in ancient maritime silk route such as Vietnam, Palembang (Indonesia), Melaka (Malaysia), Calicut, and Muscat -- from South East of Asia until Middle East. There is also Typhoon Theatre where we can experience hurricane at sea simulation.

Catchingautumn.wordpress.com

After finishing the museum tour, go downstairs  and you will see a shark’s tank ! There is a tunnel under the sea where sharks swimming around us. The shark’s tank attracted many visitors and most of them are kids who were amazed by this ocean predator. Beside the shark’s tank, another most attractive part of S.E.A. aquarium is a giant aquarium which is located deep inside the building. There were various kind of sea creatures inside the tank from the giant to the small ones. This spot is an ideal place for taking a rest after a little tour while eating snacks with giant aquarium displayed in front of us. I was amazed by giant creatures (like sharks and giant manta rays) and unique creatures such as cowfish (fish that has cow-like face) and hammerhead shark. Me and my girlfriend spent a while at this spot for resting our feet.

Shark's Tank : Plenty of Sharks !

I did not remember the tank display order but there are attractive sea creatures worth to be seen. There is a creature called Moray Eel. It is actually an eel but not a regular eel we usually see (or eat). Its body is large and has an ugly face. Moray eel has a some sharp teeth which later I discovered from National Geographic Channel that the teeth could cut human’s fingers. There is a real story where a diver lost a part of his hand because it was got bitten by a Moray Eel.

There are also fishes which will remind us with “Finding Nemo” Movie. I think you know exactly which fishes that I’m referring to. You will see Nemo and Dory in multiple amount. There is also a water pool where we are allowed to touch the starfish. You can feel the texture of its skin.

There is a creature which I thought is a seahorse. However, after watching them closer, its form is more complicated than a seahorse. It was a seadragon. Seadragon has similar shape with seahorse but seadragon has many leaves on its body and swimming in lay down position.

I had ever seen jellyfish a few times. Me and my friends were also once surrounded by jellyfishes when we were taking a walk at a shallow sea. But this time, I saw jellyfishes in details inside the jellyfish tank at S.E.A. Aquarium. Their internal organs were clearly visible and there were a lot of them inside that tank ! The colored lights decoration was also made a more amazing scenery inside the tank.

Jellyfishes

When we exit the aquarium, we thought it was the end of the tour. Luckily, there was an exhibition of historical giant sea creatures held at that place. We saw history and traces of those giant creatures such as Megalodon (ancient giant shark which had huge mouth and sharp teeth) and Ichthyosaurus (ancient carnivore fish).

Left : Plesiosaurus; Right : The Mouth of Megalodon

At the end of the tour, there is one strange animal that looked like ancient species (but it is actually alive !). Its name is Axolotl. This animal looked like historical creature that has gone extinct. I did not even know such animal is still exist.

The strange-look creature : Axolotl

In my conclusion, this place is worth to visit. There are many lessons that is suitable for both kids and adults. Just like any other museums, Maritime Experiential Museum contains historical lesson while in S.E.A. Aquarium, there are fish’s descriptions displayed next to each tank. This aquarium shows how rich the biodiversity under the sea. 

Initially, I also want to talk about Trick Eye Museum but there are not much to describe about Trick Eye Museum. What matters are to bring your camera and make lots of pictures with the unique on-site 3-D arts. You will come out with a collection of photos from Trick Eye Museum.