If this summer has taught us anything, it is that moviegoers are definitely not tired of Jurassic Park. Jurassic World has gone on to become the third highest grossing film of all time, proving that children and adults alike can't get enough dinosaurs in their lives.
That's likely what Universal Studios executives were thinking, shortly after the release of the original Jurassic Park. It's for that reason they hired William Stout to draw concept art for what a Jurassic Park animated series might look like.
The results are impressive — but sadly, the animated series never made it past the concept art and a rough trailer. Now Stout is selling his artwork on his site, and has elaborated on what exactly the long, lost Jurassic Park project was all about.
"This was not going to be a kiddy show (although kids of all ages, including myself, could enjoy it)," Stout wrote on his blog. "They wanted the show to be a mature prime time series with top writers and state-of-the-art television animation augmented with quite a bit of CG animation. Universal Cartoon Studios wanted a 'graphic novel look' to the series. I came in, showed my portfolio and was hired."
Stout's artwork depicts all the main characters from the original film, who were set to star in the animated series, as well as several action set pieces. The Mosasaur featured below will be familiar to anybody who has seen Jurassic World, so it's cool to see there was an idea to include the creature in the animated series.
Stout goes on to say that the series was set to be green-lit, only needing director Steven Spielberg's approval. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
"I heard through the grapevine that he never bothered to watch what we had done," Stout wrote. "By that time, the word was out that he was burnt out on Jurassic Park merchandising and all of the film's commercial exploitation. So, it never got made."
You can check more of Stout's Jurassic Park work (which is for sale) over on his official website.
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