We’ve all noticed the decline of GGI quality in movies over the last few years. Timeline crunch, and low budgets are just a couple of the reasons why audiences have noticed this marked difference in visual effects between older movies and more recent ones. There have even been memes showcasing the difference in quality from the early 2000s to relatively new movies. However, nothing quite drives the point home like comparing some of these movies to 1993’s Jurassic Park. It’s still hard to believe just how realistic those dinosaurs look.
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Despite the fact that the movie’s versions of the dinosaurs may not have looked like they did hundreds of millions of years ago, Steven Spielberg and the visual effects team are responsible for how most of us imagine Velociraptors, Triceratops, and even the Tyrannosaurus Rex looked. It’s all thanks to the painstaking effort and methodology that the visual effects team adopted. Before moving to advanced CGI, the team used an articulated stop-motion model to bring the legendary T-Rex to life. This model, which was originally supposed to appear in the movie, can now be yours for a whopping $30,000 via Heritage Auctions.
Jurassic Park’s Original T-Rex Is Currently On Auction
Before the switch to CGI, the original plan was to use this model for all shots involving the prehistoric predator. However, once plans changed, the T-Rex model was adapted into a dinosaur Bible. Due to its advanced articulation, including the dinosaur’s breathing pattern, animators used the model as a reference to recreate the T-Rex through CGI. It helped them figure out how it should move, run, roar, and even eat people off a toilet. As an added bonus, the model also comes with the iconic Jurassic Park Jeep.
“Rex measures 22″ x 9″ x 5″ and exhibits signs of age and wear, including oxidation to metal hinge components, stiffening of the foam latex tongue, areas of paint and glue residue, and signs of handling associated with production armatures. Mounted to a custom display form constructed of two-tiers of wood with an acrylic protective case measuring 26″ x 15.75″ x 10″ overall,” reveals the description. And, if you’re wondering where its skin went, it was removed to preserve the skeletal model from desiccation.
It’s hard to put into words just how much of an effect this model had on the movie, the world’s interpretation of dinosaurs, and the future of visual effects as a whole. It’s the reason why we can still picture the T-Rex and all its mannerisms so clearly, even after 33 years. Any movie buff would be proud to have this model in their collection, and it’s probably the closest you’ll get to owning an actual T-Rex skeleton.
It comes from the collection of Jurassic Park’s VFX Specialist and Dinosaur Supervisor Phil Tippett, who probably should have done a better job supervising the dinosaurs in the park.
Do you think CGI has gotten worse in the past few years? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Forum Conversation: If You Could Time Travel to See Any One Movie Open In Theaters What Would It Be?
Go to ForumI have actually asked Santa to let me put on a tux and travel back to Hollywood. To the opening of Casablanca. To the red carpet at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. 1942, To sit right behind Bogart and Bergman, and proudly watch Nazis get their ass handed to them, during the War.
Gotta go and see that Angela Anaconda short before it
This is an obvious choice for me. I would suit up as Batman, but not for fun—I’d travel back in time to the Century 16 theater in Aurora, Colorado. I’d buy a ticket to the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises and enjoy the first few minutes of the movie. Then I’d slip away to stop the horrible event from ever happening that night and save the innocent. The real Batman usually refuses to alter history, but in this case, I’m breaking his rules.