This past year has seen some fun and interesting events that have been staged to ‘celebrate’ the release of movies to DVD—T-Rex’s on the rampage; appearances of the real people portrayed in films; on-line chats; email campaigns to raise charity. It’s an interesting—and time honored—tradition that will probably be around for some time to come, as companies work to get your attention during this current boom our wonderful hobby has been experiencing. So, we want to alert you to a couple of more happenings that will be taking place to tie in with coming releases on several fronts:

The countdown to Jurassic Park III is on…

And Universal Studios is staging an online event that will allow you to join in a live chat with the cast and crew on the set of the movie, currently in production on the Universal Studios lot in Hollywood, California. Here’s your chance to get a sneak peak at one of the most anticipated films of next year.

The live Web Events are DVD-ROM features of the Jurassic Park & The Lost World DVDs. The chat is tentatively scheduled during the first two weeks of December. And if you don’t have a copy of these discs, Universal is giving 50 away. Just visit the Jurassic Park website at www.jurassicpark.com to find all the details.

Now, this one is really wacky…

To Celebrate the DVD release of Chicken Run, DreamWorks Home Entertainment answers the age old question “Which came first—the chicken or the Egg?”, with an “egg-citing” event in the chicken capital of the world, Springdale, Arkansas (see you can learn something by reading this web site!).

Two skydivers, one dressed as a chicken, another as an egg, will leap from a helicopter simultaneously and whoever lands on the ‘Chicken Run’ target first, will settle the debate once and for all, with no recount necessary. Over 800 kids will be on hand to cheer for their favorite, and then will be escorted by Rocky and Ginger, stars of ‘Chicken Run’, into the school auditorium for a special screening of this critically-acclaimed film.

This wild event will take place on Monday, November 20, at 9:00 a.m. Central Time; the screening is at 10:00 a.m., at the Gene George Elementary School—Springdale, Arkansas.

A chicken and an egg jumping from a helicopter…this’ll be the second time this week I’ve seen that…