Everything Dinosaur News and Updates

Updates from team members at Everything Dinosaur. Company activities, fossil hunting trips, information about Everything Dinosaur.

22 07, 2015

Still Time to Enter Everything Dinosaur’s Win a Guidraco Competition

By Mike|2023-04-01T15:06:21+01:00July 22nd, 2015|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

Win a 1:4 Scale CollectA Guidraco Pterosaur Model with Everything Dinosaur (Contest is Closed)

Everything Dinosaur is giving away a brand new, fantastic 1:4 scale replica of the pterosaur called Guidraco.

There is still time to enter Everything Dinosaur’s fantastic prehistoric pterosaur competition. CollectA have already introduced some super dinosaur and prehistoric animal models this year, all new additions to their excellent range of “Prehistoric Life” replicas that we at Everything Dinosaur stock. To celebrate these new introductions and the fact that Everything Dinosaur will be ten years old on August 1st we are holding a special competition, your chance to win a wonderful, 1:4 scale replica of a flying reptile.

CollectA Guidraco Pterosaur

CollectA have added to their “Supreme” range of large models and the new for 2015 Guidraco pterosaur with its moveable lower jaw is a fitting prize in our special ten year anniversary contest.

Celebrating Everything Dinosaur’s 10th Birthday

Win this 1:4 scale model of a Chinese pterosaur!

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A Tenth Anniversary Prize Giveaway

Our tenth anniversary prize giveaway is this super Guidraco flying reptile, complete with an articulated jaw. The replica measures more than twenty-five centimetres high and it is a generous twenty-six centimetres in length. This beautiful model requires a name. What name can you come up with?

Please note, this competition is now closed.

To enter Everything Dinosaur’s contest, all you have to do is “Like” Everything Dinosaur on our FACEBOOK page, share, then comment on the picture (either on Everything Dinosaur’s Facebook page or here on this Everything Dinosaur blog post), remember to include a suggested name for our Guidraco Pterosaur.

Everything Dinosaur on FACEBOOK: “LIKE” Our Facebook Page and Enter Competition.

Lots of Competition Entries

We have already received lots of competition entries, for example, Joshua suggested “Toucan”, whilst Lynette proposed “BeakyRex” and Ruth suggested “Lordfliesalot”. We have been very impressed with the wonderful array of names we have received so far. If you think our Guidraco should be called “Gertie”, simple comment on our Facebook page or here in the comments section of this webblog posting.

The lucky winner will be drawn at random and the Everything Dinosaur Guidraco name competition ends on Friday, July 31st. Good luck from all of us to everyone who enters.

Just go to Everything Dinosaur’s Facebook page, give our page a “like” and then leave a comment on the picture showing the Guidraco replica at the top of our timeline. What pterosaur names can you come up with?

“Like” Everything Dinosaur’s Page on Facebook

Please “like” our page.

Win a Super CollectA Guidraco Pterosaur Model with Everything Dinosaur

Just like our Facebook page to enter Everything Dinosaur’s competition!

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

CollectA Models and Figures

To view the range of CollectA prehistoric animals: CollectA Prehistoric World Figures.

To see the complete collection of CollectA scale prehistoric animal replicas: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Life.

Terms and Conditions of the Everything Dinosaur Tenth Anniversary Competition

Automated entries are not permitted and will be excluded from the draw.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

Only one entry per person.

The prize is non-transferable and no cash alternative will be offered.

The Everything Dinosaur tenth anniversary competition runs until midnight on Friday 31st July 2015.

Winner will be notified by private message on Facebook.

Prize includes postage and packing.

For full terms and conditions contact: Contact Everything Dinosaur.

This competition is now closed.

19 07, 2015

Countdown to the New CollectA Models

By Mike|2023-04-01T14:37:11+01:00July 19th, 2015|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

New CollectA Models Due in Shortly

The majority of the new for 2015 CollectA prehistoric animals should be in stock at Everything Dinosaur very shortly. The models, which include the 1:4 scale Guidraco pterosaur replica and the feathered Tyrannosaurus rex are currently on the water and they should be arriving at Everything Dinosaur’s warehouse by the end of the month.

CollectA Models

The CollectA ranges, including the “Supreme” range, to which the Guidraco scale model belongs, have earned themselves a big reputation amongst dinosaur model fans and collectors for their beautiful designs and attention to detail. The ranges have been extended recently and new additions will include the “war pig” Daeodon as well as the huge Moropus.

The genus Moropus contains a number of species, all members of the “knuckle-walkers” group of prehistoric mammals (Chalicotherioidea). New dinosaurs from CollectA include an eagerly awaited Acrocanthosaurus model (expect more news from Rebor on this dinosaur shortly) and more stocks of the popular 1:40 scale CollectA Carcharodontosaurus.

Coming Soon to Everything Dinosaur

New models all available from Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Lots of New Figures and CollectA Models

As you can see from the picture above, a marine reptile is also included in these new releases. The marine reptile is a Temnodontosaurus and it is depicted giving birth, showing that these superbly adapted marine creatures were viviparous (live birth). Emerging from behind the head of the fearsome Daeodon is the new Smilodon replica, and what a beautiful Sabre-tooth cat model it is too.

To view Everything Dinosaur’s range of CollectA models: CollectA Prehistoric World Models.

The not to scale series now contains over a hundred prehistoric animal replicas, all of which are available from Everything Dinosaur, we have seen a number of these replicas already and they really are top quality. The feathered T. rex and the Acrocanthosaurus (A. atokensis) are both new additions to the scale model range (both these dinosaurs are sculpted in 1:40 scale).

CollectA Deluxe Scale Models

To view the scale model series made by CollectA: CollectA Deluxe/Supreme Prehistoric Animal Models.

Earlier this year, the first of the 2015 prehistoric animals from CollectA were released. These replicas included a 1:40 scale Pliosaurus, two horned dinosaurs (Medusaceratops and Nasutoceratops), plus the Chinese tyrannosaurid Xiongguanlong and the enormous titanosaur known as Daxiatitan.

Some of the New for 2015 Prehistoric Animal Models (CollectA)

A wide variety of prehistoric animal models.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A Field Ruler Shows the Scale

The inclusion of one of our field rulers in the photograph above gives readers and idea of the size of these hand-painted replicas. The picture shows just some of the new CollectA models, from left to right (as you view the photograph), we have the green and black, long-necked Daxiatitan, the ichthyosaur Temodontosaurus, Medusaceratops then at the back the 1:40 scale Pliosaurus model complete with Lampreys attached to its body.

The Xiongguanlong can be seen on its base in the centre of the photograph, close to the sandy coloured Moropus and the grey Nasutoceratops. The Daeodon, prehistoric mammal figure is in the bottom right corner of the photograph. It certainly is a very eclectic bunch of prehistoric animals.

12 07, 2015

Everything Dinosaur to Prepare More Fact Sheets

By Mike|2023-04-01T12:38:06+01:00July 12th, 2015|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

Four More Prehistoric Animal Fact Sheets to Write

As Everything Dinosaur prepares for the imminent arrival of the next set of 2015 prehistoric animal models from CollectA, team members have the task of writing fact sheets to accompany these new model introductions. For every named prehistoric animal item that we sell, whether it is a soft toy, a jigsaw puzzle or a dinosaur themed pair of socks we always send out a fact sheet on the animals featured. The next four fact sheets to be prepared feature the pterosaur Guidraco (a member of the enigmatic Ornithocheiridae from China), the fearsome “War Pig” Daeodon, an ichthyosaur – Temnodontosaurus and last but not least a Moropus.

Preparing Fact Sheets

The Moropus genus is represented by a number of species. They are members of the chalicothere group of extinct, hoofed mammals distantly related to horses, tapirs and rhinos. Unlike most of their modern relatives, the chalicotheres were slow moving animals. Their large hands were twisted inwards at right angles and this meant that they walked on their knuckles, hence the popular name for the chalicotheres – “knuckle walkers”. However, the large body mass of Moropus suggests that this “knuckle walker” may not have walked on its knuckles like its relatives, this can be seen in the angle and orientation of the left arm in the drawing below.

An Illustration of Moropus Prepared for the Everything Dinosaur Fact Sheet

An illustration of Moropus.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Moropus

With its sideburns and flowing mane this prehistoric mammal illustration reminds of a number of rock stars from the 1970’s. We have nicknamed our Moropus prototype model “Noddy” after Noddy Holder, the lead singer of the very successful rock band Slade.

With four fact sheets on the new CollectA models to prepare, it has been pointed out to us that none of these four fact sheets are going to feature dinosaurs. We are going to be a little bit out our comfort zone. However, we have some very useful reference sources, for example we have some excellent notes within our database on the original work by Othniel Charles Marsh, the American palaeontologist who named this genus back in 1877.

The genus name means “Sloth or Slow Foot”), whatever the form of locomotion, Moropus was probably a very slow moving animal, one that relied on its sheer bulk and muscle to keep out of harm’s way.

To view the range of CollectA models currently available from Everything Dinosaur: CollectA Prehistoric Animal Models.

Fact Sheets

These four new fact sheets will be ready by the end of the month so that they can be sent out with the first orders of the newly arrived CollectA replicas.

New for 2015 An Array of Prehistoric Animal Models from CollectA

A wide variety of prehistoric animal models.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

In the picture above, the Moropus replica can be seen on the right and what a magnificent figure it is. The large claws on the front feet can clearly be seen.

Scientists debate what the claws could have been used for, anatomical studies have revealed that the phalanges (finger bones) were quite flexible so the claws could be raised slightly and held off the ground as it walked. The claws could have been used to dig up plant roots and tubers as well as acting as a deterrent to any would-be attacker, a “Bear Dog” (Amphicyonidae), for example. After all, with 1,000 kilogrammes of muscle behind it, Moropus could pack quite a punch!

To view the range of scale models in the CollectA range: CollectA Deluxe Figures.

9 07, 2015

Win, Win, Win with a Special Everything Dinosaur Contest!

By Mike|2024-04-11T10:27:13+01:00July 9th, 2015|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products, Main Page, Press Releases|1 Comment

Win a 1:4 Scale CollectA Guidraco Pterosaur Model (Competition is now Closed)

WIN! WIN! WIN! with Everything Dinosaur! Or should we change our name to Everything Pterosaur as we are giving away a brand new, super-duper 1:4 scale replica of the pterosaur called Guidraco.

We have got another super, prehistoric animal giveaway. CollectA have already brought out some amazing dinosaur models in 2015, all new additions to their excellent “Prehistoric Life” range that we at Everything Dinosaur are so proud to support. To celebrate this and the fact Everything Dinosaur will officially be ten years old on August 1st we are holding a special competition, your chance to win a superb 1:4 scale replica of a flying reptile.

CollectA Guidraco Pterosaur

CollectA have extended their “Supreme” range of large scale models and the new for 2015 Guidraco with its moveable lower jaw is splendid and it makes a fitting prize in our special ten year anniversary competition.

Celebrate Everything Dinosaur’s Tenth Birthday

Win this 1:4 scale model!

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Tenth Anniversary Prize Giveaway

Our tenth anniversary prize giveaway is this fantastic Guidraco with an articulated jaw. The replica measures more than twenty-five centimetres tall and more than twenty-six centimetres long. Its colouration is based on a modern puffin and our replica needs a name.

Please note, this competition is now closed.

To enter Everything Dinosaur’s competition, all you have to do is “Like” Everything Dinosaur’s FACEBOOK page, share, then comment on the picture (either here or on Everything Dinosaur’s Facebook page) including a suggestion for a name for this fabulous Pterosaur.

Everything Dinosaur on FACEBOOK: “LIKE” Our Facebook Page and Enter Competition.

For example, if you think our Guidraco should be called “Graham”, then comment on our Facebook page or here in the comments section in our blog!

We will draw the lucky winner at random and the name caption competition closes on Friday, July 31st. Good luck!

Just visit Everything Dinosaur’s Facebook page, give our page a “like” and then leave a comment on the picture showing the Guidraco model. What flying reptile names can you come up with?

“Like” Everything Dinosaur’s Page on Facebook

Like our Page (please).

Super CollectA Guidraco Replica to Win Thanks to Everything Dinosaur

Just like our Facebook page to enter.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur

To view Everything Dinosaur’s range of CollectA prehistoric animals: CollectA Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animal Replicas.

To see the full range of CollectA scale prehistoric animal replicas: CollectA Guidraco Pterosaur Model and Other Figures.

Terms and Conditions of the Everything Dinosaur Tenth Anniversary Competition

Automated entries are not permitted and will be excluded from the draw.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

Only one entry per person.

The prize is non-transferable and no cash alternative will be offered.

The Everything Dinosaur tenth anniversary competition runs until midnight on Friday 31st July 2015.

Winner will be notified by private message on Facebook.

Prize includes postage and packing.

For full terms and conditions contact: Contact Everything Dinosaur.

Please note, this competition is now closed.

1 07, 2015

Summer Term Draws to a Close

By Mike|2023-04-01T06:35:07+01:00July 1st, 2015|Categories: Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page, Teaching|0 Comments

More Dinosaur Workshops Prior to the End of the Summer Term

There may be a little under three weeks or so to go before the end of the summer term, but Everything Dinosaur team members are still working hard preparing for the dinosaur workshops that they have planned between now and the end of the school year. Team members will be travelling to Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, Lancashire and into Yorkshire as well as the West Midlands as they strive to complete their assignments. The focus will be on exploring fossils and dinosaurs in a kinaesthetic way, with lots of tactile fossil handling experiments and other activities, all designed to meet the learning needs of the classes.

Dinosaur Workshop

As with all our work in schools, we will be keen to support literacy and numeracy initiatives with lots of extension ideas and supplementary teaching materials that we can email over to teachers to help them with their schemes of work.

Dinosaurs Encouraging Children with Writing

Lots of examples of transcription and composition. Typical extension activities resulting from a dinosaur workshop.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur Working Hard

Already this week, Everything Dinosaur team members have supplied primary schools with resources to help measure different types of dinosaur (a novel use of toilet paper, even if we say so ourselves). In addition, we have replied to the many thank you letters we have received. These letters have been sent to our offices as part of an agreed extension activity with a number of schools whereby we help to encourage the children to practice punctuation and sentence construction. It’s all part of a day’s work for our dedicated teachers and dinosaur experts.

With the end of the school year drawing near, the pressure is on when it comes to replying to the questions that we have had emailed into us. All these need to be answered in super quick time to help the teaching teams complete their term topics. Naturally, we strive to respond to all the questions we get sent as rapidly as possible, we know just how keenly anticipated our replies are.

To contact Everything Dinosaur to request further information about our science outreach work: Contact Email.

Fossil Excavations

Over the summer, we hope to get out into the field to do some more work on fossil excavations as well as exploring a couple of new potential dig sites. On top of all this, we have also got plans to add further free downloads to our “dinosaurs for schools” website. Looks like it is going to be a very busy few weeks.

To visit Everything Dinosaur’s specialist website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

22 06, 2015

2,000 “Likes” on Everything Dinosaur’s Facebook Page

By Mike|2023-03-31T18:04:08+01:00June 22nd, 2015|Categories: Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page, Press Releases|2 Comments

2,000 “Likes” on Facebook for Everything Dinosaur

Over the last few days or so, the Everything Dinosaur Facebook page has passed the 2,000 “likes” mark. We just want to say a very big thank you to all our customers, readers and dinosaur enthusiasts who have given our page a “like”. Every “like” is greatly appreciated and unlike many companies, we have never purchased “likes” or manipulated the site to add fake likes. All these endorsements have come from people who genuinely think that we are good at what we do.

Two Thousand “Likes” on Everything Dinosaur’s Facebook Page

Two thousand likes on Everything Dinosaur’s Facebook page.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Recently, there have been a number of studies undertaken into how businesses can purchase endorsements such as positive reviews, favourable blog articles, Facebook “likes” and so forth. BBC journalists have even tracked down individuals who have posted up company reviews and been paid for doing so. We at Everything Dinosaur believe that good companies don’t need to mislead customers and potential new customers in this way. We let our good service and hard work speak for us.

2,000 Facebook Likes

To read a recent article about misleading company and product reviews being posted online: Fake Reviews Mislead Customers.

We are truly grateful for all the Facebook “likes” that we receive. We really enjoy posting up pictures, articles and information on our Facebook page, we have lots of friends and last year we accumulated 1,580 “likes” so we are truly honoured to have added nearly five hundred more this year. At Everything Dinosaur we believe that Facebook “likes” have to be earned and not purchased we shall continue to work hard to earn every appreciative “like” that we receive.

At the start of 2015 we set ourselves a few “targets” for Everything Dinosaur’s Facebook page, let’s see how we are doing:

Targets:

Increase “likes” to “2,000” by the end of 2015 (we have reached this target by the third week of June)
Increase the number of friends we have on Facebook to 400 by the end of the year (gaining more Facebook friends all the time and we should pass this target later on this year)
Run at least three competitions and free giveaways to show our gratitude to our Facebook fans (just like we did last year), a new competition will be announced shortly

Target for 2015 was 2,000 earned “likes”.

Feel free to “like” our page by clicking on the Facebook logo – that would be brilliant!!

Perhaps we should reset our Facebook “likes” target for 2015 to 2, 500!

To see the amazing range of prehistoric animal toys and games available from Everything Dinosaur: Prehistoric Animal Themed Toys and Gifts.

18 06, 2015

Fake Reviews Misleading Potential Customers but the Helpful Everything Dinosaur Team have the Answers

By Mike|2024-05-05T14:22:13+01:00June 18th, 2015|Categories: Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

Genuine Customer Reviews after Dinosaur Workshops

This week there have been a number of reports commissioned that focus on the allegations over the publishing of fake and misleading reviews on retailing websites. In a survey carried out by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), some 54% of the adults questioned revealed that they relied on reviews that had been posted up on websites and that many respondents found them invaluable.

Third Party Testimonials

Third party testimonials, posted up feedback and customer reviews are a very helpful source of information. Visitors to a website can read the comments and other information posted and this does affect their purchasing decisions.

It is important that customers can feel confident about the information in reviews, that these reviews have been provided by genuine customers, whether it be a service or product purchased. There have also been a number of allegations made of people “blackmailing” businesses with threats to leave very negative reviews in order to obtain a benefit such as a discount.

In addition, many of the reviews that are posted up are often paid for, examples of which are Tweets from innovators and celebrities endorsing a product, or favourable blog articles singing the praises of a company. Some of these blog posts endorsing a firm or its goods and services do state within the article that this is a paid for posting, whilst others do not. The CMA has launched an investigation into several companies, as the use of paid for endorsements without a clear admission of payment may be unlawful.

Genuine Customer Reviews

Everything Dinosaur team members would like to reassure readers that every review posted up on its websites is genuine. The reviews, feedback and comments we receive are from our customers or, as is the case on our dinosaur workshops in school website, from teachers or senior management from an organisation that has had one of our dinosaur themed workshops.

Review Given to Everything Dinosaur from Year 1 Teacher

Every review posted is genuine feedback from a member of the teaching team.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Feedback from a Workshop

Take for example, the image above. This is our latest review, teaching feedback given to us after a dinosaur workshop with a class of Year 1 children. We have removed the teacher’s surname and email address in order to compile with our own online publishing policy in terms of protecting an individual’s privacy. The teacher even took the trouble to colour in the stars as she awarded as “five stars” for our dinosaur workshop.

Nikki (the teacher), stated:

“Fantastic knowledge of dinosaurs, very interactive. Children thoroughly enjoyed it! Great workshop. Thank you.”

Genuine Customer Reviews Received by Everything Dinosaur

Thank you Nikki, your comments are greatly appreciated. We log all our feedback, comments, reviews and such like. Teaching feedback for example, is stored so that we can use this information to help improve our service to schools and to demonstrate to STEM/STEMNET (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths – Network) how we have feedback loops built into our training to help promote continuous development.

Nisha Arora, Senior Director at the CMA, commented to the BBC:

“We are committed to ensuring that consumers’ trust in these important information tools is maintained. We will take enforcement action where necessary to tackle unlawful practices.”

Facebook “Likes”

Facebook “likes” are another area of concern. We know of a number of companies who have purchased thousands of likes to help boost the profile of the Facebook pages and in turn, their own brand/web presence. Facebook, claims to have cracked down on this practice but there are still many examples on this social media platform.

Sue Judd, the Finance Director of Everything Dinosaur stated:

“A huge, international business has sprung up in the last few years all aimed at helping to promote companies, boost brands and endorse products. At Everything Dinosaur, we pride ourselves in publishing genuine feedback, reviews and comments and we would never knowingly post up information such as fake reviews and endorsements.”

Influencing Consumer Spending

The CMA estimates that some £23 billion (GBP) a year of consumer spending was potentially influenced by online reviews. So called “astroturfing”, the practice of creating fake grass root reviews can lead to big rewards for unscrupulous businesses. There have also been reports made about businesses writing fake reviews of themselves to boost their ratings on review sites and even some examples of firms writing or commissioning fake negative reviews to undermine rivals, for malicious reasons or for personal gain.

Purchased Facebook “Likes”

Customers can gain some understanding of the practices employed by examining the business profiles of companies on Facebook. If an organisation suddenly has hundreds or even thousands more “likes”, then this could be an example of purchased likes being added to the business profile. Although, as site managers aim to get on top of this problem, the firms and individuals behind such practices are getting smarter. Rather than post up huge numbers of “likes” in a short period, contracts are drawn up whereby dozens and dozens of fake “likes” are posted up over a period of several weeks. These trends are more difficult for administrators and site security watchdogs to spot.

Everything Dinosaur currently has around 2,020 Facebook “likes”, this number has been steadily rising since the Facebook page was launched.

Everything Dinosaur’s Reviews – The Numbers

Here is a list of the numbers of published reviews from customers posted up on Everything Dinosaur’s websites:

1,286 customer reviews on Everything Dinosaur’s website – Everything Dinosaur. Sadly, we were not able to transfer the many thousands of reviews that had been posted up previously when we transferred website servers.
2,020 Facebook “likes”
57 dinosaur workshop reviews since this site went live at the end of August 2014. To read more about the way in which Everything Dinosaur supports its customers: Everything Dinosaur Testimonials.

Recently, social media sites such as Facebook have introduced a number of enhancements. For instance, visitors to a company’s Facebook page can get an insight into the firm’s responsiveness if the site displays a logo (found under the Page’s cover photo) that states that this firm is very responsive to messages. To qualify a Page must have done both of the following over the previous 7 days:

Responded to 90% of messages
Maintained a median response time of five minutes for all replies sent

These are quite tough, especially when you consider the global nature of a business such as ours. We do our best to respond quickly, but messages sent from Australia could arrive when all our team members are tucked up in bed. Everything Dinosaur confidently predicts that very soon (if not already), a number of dubious practices will be offered by various individuals/companies to provide a false impression of a firm’s responsiveness.

15 06, 2015

“Jurassic World” in Record Weekend

By Mike|2023-03-30T22:01:08+01:00June 15th, 2015|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Movie Reviews and Movie News, Press Releases|0 Comments

$511 Million USD in Cinema Ticket Sales in a Weekend for Jurassic World

“Jurassic World” directed by Colin Trevorrow and co-produced by Steven Spielberg has become the first film in history to take more than $500 million dollars (USD) at the box office on its opening weekend. The film, the fourth in the Jurassic Park franchise, had been scheduled for release in the summer of 2014, but script issues and filming delays put back the release of the movie.

All Doubts Removed

Any doubts the executives at Universal Studios had about “Jurassic World” were very quickly dispelled as advance ticket sales for the opening weekend had hinted that the lure of genetically engineered dinosaurs was going to result in huge financial rewards for the studio.

The film was the most popular screening in all sixty-six countries where it was released over the weekend. In the United States it took some $204 million dollars (USD), box office receipts in China are estimated to have exceeded $100 million (USD), whilst in the United Kingdom and Ireland ticket sales were around the $30 million (USD) mark.

According to media reports, the success of “Jurassic World” in America makes it the second highest grossing opening weekend for a film in the United States (the record is held by the 2012 release of Marvel’s “The Avengers” which took $207.4 million (USD) in its first weekend.

A Monster Hit in the Cinemas!

A model of a genetically designed dinosaur. Inspired by InGen? A film proves to be a “monster hit” on the opening weekend.

For models and replicas of prehistoric animals: Nanmu Studio Jurassic World Models.

Global box office ticket sales have been estimated at around the $511.8 million dollars mark (USD), that equates to approximately £325 million (GBP), even the giant Masrani conglomerate, the fictitious global concern that supposedly owns the theme park where the movie is set, would be impressed with sales figures such as these.

Possibly Universal Studio’s Highest Grossing Film Ever

The first “Jurassic Park” film was released in 1993. Everything Dinosaur team members think that this first movie (for the time being), remains Universal Studio’s highest grossing film ever, with over $921 million (USD) generated at the box office worldwide. This figure was further boosted by cinema receipts from the twentieth anniversary edition released in 2013.

To put these cinema sales into context, the top grossing film in the United States and Canada last year (box office receipts), was “Guardians of the Galaxy which took some $333.1 million (USD), “Jurassic World” achieved over sixty percent of this sales figure in just its opening weekend. “Guardians of the Galaxy” starred Chris Pratt, who plays Owen Grady, the Velociraptor behaviourist turned hero of “Jurassic World”.

People Just Love Dinosaurs – “Jurassic World”

What does all this mean? Put simply, people just love dinosaurs and the bigger and fiercer they are the better. Perhaps this film will inspire the next generation of scientists, a spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“Jurassic World, was always going to be a huge success in all likelihood. The film puts people and dinosaurs together and that is a winning combination that has been proved time and time again throughout cinema history.”

A Sequel?

The success of the film does not just mean a rekindling of our love affair with summer block-busters, it also virtually guarantees that the “Jurassic Park” franchise will continue. Everything Dinosaur team members predict that there will be a sequel, expect announcements soon and a cinema release of maybe late 2017.

Team members try to make annual predictions about dinosaur discoveries, fossil finds and likely events related to palaeontology at the beginning of each year. Our first prediction for 2015, was a real no-brainer, we confidently stated that “Jurassic World” was going to be a huge success!

To read Everything Dinosaur’s full list of palaeontology predictions for 2015: Everything Dinosaur’s Predictions 2015.

To visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

14 06, 2015

An Exclusive Apatosaurus Illustration

By Mike|2024-05-05T14:21:29+01:00June 14th, 2015|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

A Young Apatosaurus is Sketched

To reflect the recently published scientific paper that summarised the re-evaluation of the Apatosaurinae, that subfamily of diplodocid sauropods, that led to the re-establishment of the genus Brontosaurus, team members at Everything Dinosaur have commissioned a new illustration of one of these long-necked dinosaurs. Brontosaurus means “thunder lizard”, an apt description for this type of dinosaur, one that could have weighed as much as twenty-five tonnes and measured as long as a tennis court (B. excelsus). Long-necked dinosaurs are extremely popular amongst adults and youngsters and we do get asked a lot of questions about these types of prehistoric animals when we visit schools, from the teachers as well as the children.

For further information: Is Brontosaurus Back?

An Illustration of Apatosaurus, or is it Brontosaurus?

Or is it a Brontosaurus?

Picture credit: Mike Fredericks/Everything Dinosaur

Apatosaurus Illustration

We will probably use this new illustration to make a scale drawing for our dinosaur fact sheets. We research and write a fact sheet for every named prehistoric animal item that Everything Dinosaur supplies. We have hundreds of these fact sheets and we do supply them to schools and to home education groups to help teachers and parents. More drawings will be commissioned shortly, the majority of these will be for new model introductions. We can’t say too much about this just yet, further information will be made available at the end of the year. What we can say is that there are going to be some very exciting new models in 2016.

To view Everything Dinosaur’s existing model range, including Apatosaurus models: Apatosaurus Models and Prehistoric Animal Figures.

7 06, 2015

Congratulations to All Involved with The Unique Times Cheltenham Science Festival

By Mike|2024-05-05T14:13:27+01:00June 7th, 2015|Categories: Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates|0 Comments

The Times Cheltenham Science Festival Draws to a Close

The Times Cheltenham Science Festival ends today, Sunday’s events will bring to a close six days of infinite curiosity with presentations featuring battling dinosaurs, Lord Robert Winston, Mars exploration, quantum mechanics, the secret lives of dogs and a forensic analysis of King Richard III. These events reflect the extremely diverse range of activities, presentations and hands-on science experiments that have been available on the Imperial Square site in Cheltenham since the festival began on June 2nd.

Sunshine and Clear Skies for Much of the Festival

Life and the universe explored at the Festival. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Cheltenham Science Festival

The Times Cheltenham Science Festival is an annual celebration of how our world works and how science helps us understand it. Everything Dinosaur team members were invited down and we were most impressed by the enthusiasm and dedication of the volunteers who made all the visitors feel at home. This year, four big topics were covered, the universe, life, back to the future and of course dinosaurs. We enjoyed meeting all the young dinosaur fans (not so young dinosaur fans as well) and we were even roped in to help answer some of the questions from the budding palaeontologists who visited the “Dino zone”.

Visiting the “Dino Zone” at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival

Meet the dinosaurs. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Plenty of Dinosaurs to See

Many of the visitors took the opportunity to take part in the Dino zone science trail. Boards and posters that had been prominently positioned across the well organised site provided the answers, but as we carried a couple of the quiz forms around we were stopped on a couple of occasions and asked to help out with the answers. Wearing a shirt displaying the Everything Dinosaur logo, we tend to get stopped quite a bit at these sorts of events, all part of the job of being science communicators as we try to explain how the Cretaceous mass extinction came about or how pterosaurs were able to take to the skies.

Cheltenham Science Festival – The Dino Zone

Some of the volunteers who were overseeing the science discovery trail were curious to find out more about dinosaurs themselves and we explained how most palaeontologists now accept that a large number of the Dinosauria, at least the theropods were feathered. Our knowledge of the Velociraptorinae came in handy too, with a quick bit of dinosaur claw identification, my how we love looking at manual unguals or indeed, pedal unguals (claws of the hand and claws of the foot respectively).

Edmontosaurus annectens on Display

Duck-billed dinosaur on display. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

In the Dino zone we came across a beautiful Edmontosaurus annectens exhibit. We spotted some interesting pathology (note the missing neural spines). Fortunately, the very clever and talented scientists from the University of Manchester were more than happy to discuss what we had seen. A special thanks to PhD student Jennifer ‘Indy’ Anné, a specialist in palaeopathology who helped us clear up our queries related to the shape and position of the fourth trochanter in tyrannosaurids.

Our congratulations to the organisers, sponsors, volunteers and to all involved in making the Times Cheltenham Science Festival such a successful event.

To view the extensive range of models available from Everything Dinosaur including replicas of hadrosaurs: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.