One of the most memorable and frightening dinosaurs introduced in  the "Jurassic Park" series is the Velociraptor. They may not be as gigantic as the T. rex, but the intimidating raptors have appeared in each of the three films so far. 

We'll see them again on screen in "Jurassic World," which hits theaters June 12. 

However, you may not realize the ferocious beasts we've become acquainted with onscreen are much different than what popular culture might lead you to believe.

While they are portrayed as vicious, cunning reptile-like hunters in the movies, in reality, they were much smaller, less intelligent, and resembled a bird more than a reptile.

"It's the size of a big turkey or a small wolf,"Dr. John Hutchinson, an evolutionary biomechanist and professor at the Royal Veterinary College in London, explained to Business Insider. "The evidence of their brain is that it's no smarter than a pretty dumb bird like an Emu or something like that."

The real Velociraptor was also feathered, a discovery which wasn't made until after "Jurassic Park" was released in 1993. 

"We know that for sure because we found specimens that have the insertion points for feathers on their arms." Dr. Mark Norell, current Chairman of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, told Business Insider.

Here's a sketch of what an actual Velociraptor may have looked like by artist Luis V. Rey. This depiction has even made it into a museum in America.

Michael Crichton, who wrote the book which "Jurassic Park" is based on, and director Steven Spielberg were both aware of the Velociraptor's less than intimidating size back when the movie was being developed in the early '90s.

The Velociraptor we see on screen ended up based off of another dinosaur, Deinonychus. This is partially because Crichton based his novel on Gregory Paul's "Predatory Dinosaurs," which "labeled the Velociraptor as a Deinonychus subspecies." 

Spielberg could have changed it to the more accurate term, but most Paleontologists think he probably kept it that way because "Velociraptor" sounded a lot cooler than "Deinonychus."

"[Velociraptor] is a much sexier, better-sounding name." Norell said. "For somebody to be talking about that Deinonychus because even Deinoychus, amongst the professional community, people pronounce it different ways, you know? I mean, it just flows off the tongue a lot easier."

When asked the same question, Dr. Hutchinson also described the Velociraptor name as "sexier."

While the scientific name isn't that catchy, Deinoychus does translate to "Terrible Claw" -- and the Velociraptors in the "Jurassic Park" franchise have some pretty mean ones. 

The film's Velociraptors were a bit bigger than Deinonychus.Funny enough, just two years before the debut of "Jurassic Park," a new dinosaur was discovered called the Utahraptor which is nearly identical to the Velociraptors seen onscreen. 

"Jurassic World" will bring back basically the same Velociraptors as before. However, they still won't have any feathers, and it appears from the trailers that they won't change much in size, either. This makes them consistent with the original film, but not so much with modern science.

One thing that may be different, though, is that the Velociraptors here could be a lot friendlier then they have been in the past. One trailer shows Chris Pratt's character training the raptors as he talks about "a relationship based on respect."

But maybe it wasn't their behavior that needed changing.

While it is hard to determine exactly how they behaved, there is some evidence to show real Velociraptors were indeed vicious fighters.

One famous fossil found in Mongolia preserves a Velociraptor mid-fight with a Protoceratops.

"I wouldn't wanna tangle with one," Hutchinson said.

SEE ALSO: This brilliant sci-fi film is one of the best movies you'll see all year

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NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

Steven Spielberg has a habit of building up a lot of suspense to his monsters and creatures before actually showing them.

In "Jaws," the shark doesn't pop his head out of the water until the film's third act. The aliens of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" don't appear until the film's final moments. 

Spielberg used the same trick for the T. rex in "Jurassic Park," to terrifying effect. Before making its first appearance, the giant dinosaur is heard through roars and grunts and, most memorably, a plastic cup of water, which vibrates as the predator stomps along and draws near:

The ingenious shot came to Spielberg while listening to an Earth, Wind, and Fire song with the bass "turned up full volume" in his car. The identity of the song remains unknown.

A behind-the-scenes featurette from Universal, which can be found on the "Jurassic Park" Blu-ray, shows some of the original storyboards for the iconic shot:

"I was at work and Steven calls into the office and he goes, 'I'm in the car. Earth, Wind, and Fire is playing, and my mirror is shaking! That's what we need to do!'" Dinosaur effects supervisor Michael Lantieri said in a making-of featurette on the "Jurassic Park" Blu-ray. "He goes, 'We need to shake the mirror, and then I wanna do something with the water.'"

It took a lot of work to make Spielberg's vision come to life. 

"The mirror shaking was easy ... put a little vibrating motor in and shook it." Lantieri said. "But the water was another story. It was a very difficult thing to do. You couldn't do it. " 

So Lantieri gathered everybody he could find to try to figure out how to make that water shake. 

Interestingly enough, it was music that first inspired this shot and music that eventually brought it to life. Lantieri decided to experiment with his guitar.

"I set a glass and started playing notes on a guitar and got to a right frequency ... a right note ... and it did exactly what I wanted it to do." Lantieri said.

To replicate that for the shot, they "fed a guitar string through the car, down to the ground, and then I had a guy lay under the car and pluck the guitar string," Lantieri said in an interview from an early "Jurassic Park" DVD.

"One of the things that Steven is so good at is finding images that represent the story, the emotion, that the audience is supposed to be experiencing," cinematographer Dean Cundey said in the same behind-the-scenes video.

But to find that right image, you might need to hear a good tune first.

Watch the behind-the-scenes clip below via Universal:

SEE ALSO: The velociraptors in the 'Jurassic Park' movies are nothing like their real-life counterparts

AND: THEN & NOW: The cast of 'Jurassic Park' 22 years later

AND: Here's how the 'Jurassic World' dinosaurs looked in real life

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

As the man behind critically acclaimed "Batman: The Animated Series" and the wider DC Animated Universe of the '90s and early 2000s, Bruce Timm introduced a lot of young fans to the DC Universe.

Young fans, however, should probably stay away from his latest DC creation. Probably old fans too, if they're squeamish. 

Because boy, does it get super dark. 

"Justice League: God and Monsters" is Timm's latest work, a shocking reinvention of the Justice League that's a complete 180 from his iconic DC Animated Universe. In this version, Batman is a vampire, Superman is the son of General Zod, and Wonder Woman is descended from Jack Kirby's New Gods as opposed to Greek Mythology.

While "Gods and Monsters" won't be available to watch until July 28, 2015, Timm will be rolling out three installments of "Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles" in the meantime — a series of animated shorts released on YouTube channel Machinima.

The first, "Twisted," has Batman (who is Kirk Langstrom aka Man-Bat here, not Bruce Wayne) hunting down Harley Quinn, who is more demented (and scantily clad) than ever before.

As the title for the short suggests, it is messed up. 

No, those aren't Batman's disembodied heads or limbs.

That's a torso in a Jack-in-the-Box!

And Harley Quinn looks even crazier than usual! 

Here's how she typically looks in other iterations.

Again, here's another shot of her from "Twisted":

Turns out Harley's not only using corpses for play things, she's also using them to create a fake family.

Nothing screams creepy like taking a selfie with your dead pretend family.

It's also quite violent.

Vampire Batman? 

This is bananas.

"The three shorts airing on Machinima were deliberately designed to be a bit shocking," said Bruce Timm in an interview with Kotaku's Evan Narcisse. "I wanted to smack people upside the head and say, 'Wake up! These are different characters.'"  

While "a bit shocking" might be kind of an understatement, Timm has certainly gotten his point across. 

We're kind of scared to see what Superman and Wonder Woman are going to do in the next few shorts. 

"Justice League: Gods and Monsters" will be available on July 28.   

For now, check out "Twisted" below:

SEE ALSO: Why the new DC Universe revamp is worth checking out

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NOW WATCH: Here's the best look yet at the next big game starring Batman

If you've got just a few hours to boost your business savvy, we've got you covered. These 11 documentary films offer in-depth looks at entrepreneurs, companies, and big ideas you might only be superficially familiar with.

From a film on Wal-Mart's business practices to one on aspiring sommeliers, each will simultaneously entertain and educate you about business.

What it really takes to launch a company

If you think that starting and building a company is like a real-life version of "The Social Network," think again. The 2014 documentary miniseries "startupland" takes viewers through the development of five businesses enrolled in a tech accelerator, showing how scary the experience really is. Each episode features interviews with well-known business execs and entrepreneurs, including Reddit's Alexis Ohanian and AOL's Steve Case. (The feature film "startupland," from the same creators, comes out this year.)

How a personal-care line became an accidental success

The face on Burt's Bees products belongs to Burt Shavitz, a beekeeper who never anticipated that he'd found a billion-dollar international brand. "Burt's Buzz" tells the story of Shavitz's career, starting from his days as a young New York City photojournalist. Viewers also learn about Shavitz's complicated relationship with cofounder Roxane Quimby, who eventually bought Shavitz out and sold the business to the Clorox company.

How to turn your passion into a profession

"Somm" follows a group of four men preparing for the master sommelier exam, a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world. Their obsession with getting ready for the exam consumes them as well as the people closest to them. The film will inspire you to pursue your own ambitions, however lofty they may seem.

When it comes to building franchises, Hollywood tries desperately to stay consistent. If the first movie is a hit, studios will try their hardest to keep the same directors and actors on board as long as possible.

But there are instances in which change is necessary. Sometimes for the betterment of a movie, but sometimes they leave viewers scratching their heads.

From "Batman" to The National Lampoon "Vacation" franchise, check out the most notable recastings in movie history.

In 1980's "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" we see the Emperor for the first time as he speaks to Darth Vader via holograph. The Emperor was actually played by Elaine Baker, then wife of special makeup effects legend Rick Baker. The voice was done by New Zealand actor Clive Revill.

For the next film in the saga, "Return of the Jedi," George Lucas recast the role with Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid, who not only went on to play the Emperor in the prequels, but was placed into the "Empire" scene when Lucas updated the films in the early 2000s.

Though Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for his performance as Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs" (and would play the part two more times), he wasn't the first to star as the good doctor.

After a record-breaking Friday at the box office, "Jurassic World" blew all analyst expectations this weekend.

The fourth film in the "Jurassic Park" franchise brought in an estimated $204.6 million, according to BoxOffice.com.

 
If the estimate holds, that gives "Jurassic World" the second-largest opening at the box-office ever. 

The previous record, set by 2012's "The Avengers," is $207.4 million.

Earlier this summer, it was thought "Avengers: Age of Ultron" would come close to beating that record, but it came short with a weekend gross of $191.3 million.

Worldwide, the film has already made over $511 million.

"Jurassic World" was a big risk from Universal.

The film has been in the works for a decade, mired by script rewrites and multiple delays.

Co-financed by Universal and Legendary, "Jurassic World" cost an estimated $150 million.

Until Friday, box-office estimates for the film ranged from $100 million to around $130 million. That quickly changed after box-office numbers for late Thursday showings and Friday delivered the largest "pure" opening of all time.

"Jurassic World" pretty much solidifies its star Chris Pratt as box-office gold.

This is Pratt's third film in the past year to become a break-out hit after "The LEGO Movie" ($468 million), in which he voiced the lead, and Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" ($774 million).

"Jurassic" isn't just a big hit in the US either.

In China, the film has made $100.8 million. 

Right now, "Jurassic World" is well on its way to being the second billion-dollar hit for Universal after "Furious 7" earlier this year.

Don't be surprised to hear of a sequel soon in the works.

The movie definitely leaves room for one, and Pratt confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that he's signed on for a sequel.

SEE ALSO: "Jurassic World" completely ignores these important discoveries scientists made about dinosaurs

AND: Why it took 10 years to bring "Jurassic World" to theaters

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NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today

The first three "Jurassic Park" films grossed a combined total of nearly $2 billion worldwide, so it's a bit surprising "Jurassic World," the latest installment in the franchise, took a decade to get made.

Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two installments in the franchise, came up with an idea for "Jurassic World" while on set for 2001's "Jurassic Park III." In 2002, it was announced a fourth "Jurassic Park" was slated for a summer 2005 release.

After delays and script rewrites the 2005 release was pushed to 2014, and finally 2015 as "Jurassic World" waded through a 10-year mess to make it to the big screen. 

The delay partially stemmed from the fact that creative positions changed hands several times. Joe Johnston, the director of "Jurassic Park III," didn't want to take the director's chair again. Instead, Johnston ended up directing 2011's "Captain America: The First Avenger."

Meanwhile, multiple versions of a script for the fourth film circulated around Hollywood for the last decade.

According to the New York Times, several writers came in to work on it at different times. In January 2013, it was officially announced "Jurassic World" would be released June 2014. The timeline gave the project a little over a year for completion.

Yet, Colin Trevorrow, who previously directed the popular indie feature "Safety Not Guaranteed," was up for this daunting task.

He was hired before he even got to see what was written down, and, when he did, he didn't quite like what he saw.

“I didn’t understand what it was about,” Trevorrow told the New York Times.

One of the early versions of the script that they were working off of was penned byWiliam Monahan (who won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Departed") and John Sayles ("Lone Star").

This one featured a genetically modified dinosaur spliced with DNA of both a dinosaur and a human — which likely served as early inspiration of the hybrid Indominus Rex which appears in "Jurassic World." Back in 2007, Moriarty at Ain't It Cool News got a hold of a copy of this script and described it as "A Dirty Dozen-style mercenary team of hyper-smart dinosaurs in body armour killing drug dealers and rescuing kidnapped children." 

So Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly did some edits to another version of the script, this one written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Among their alterations was the decision to expand on the idea of trained raptors and make them "as realistic as can be," as Connolly told Empire. 

Spielberg, who serves as executive producer (and was very heavily involved throughout the entire process despite never visiting the set) on "Jurassic World," liked the new ideas, but decided not to rush it.

According to the same New York Times article, Spielberg told Trevorrow they should take another year, because "if we do it right this could be really special.” 

Along with the writers and director, the cast shifted several times.

At one point, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, and Richard Attenborough were all set to reprise their "Jurassic Park" roles for the fourth film, a fact that all three of them had confirmed.

While Attenborough passed away in 2014, it seems Trevorrow wants to try and build something new and fresh out of an existing idea. Trevorrow and Connolly decided "Jurassic World" would be better off without the return of several "Jurassic Park" alums.

"I know a lot of fans want to see the original characters back. They’re iconic." Trevorrow said in an interview with IGN. "But I respect those actors too much to shoehorn them into this story for my own sentimental reasons. 'Jurassic Park' isn’t about the bad luck of three people who keep getting thrown into the same situation. The only reason they’d go back to that island is if the screenwriters contrived a reason for them to go."

Despite this, B.D. Wong is set to reprise his role as Dr. Henry Wu.

It might have taken ten years to assemble, but it looks like they might not do too badly with this cast, which is led by Chris Pratt. Following the overwhelming success of "The LEGO Movie" and "Guardians of the Galaxy," Pratt has become one of the biggest movie stars in the world. He is joined by the likes of Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio ("Daredevil"), and Jake Johnson.

"Jurassic World" opens in theaters on June 12.

SEE ALSO: An Earth, Wind, and Fire song inspired Spielberg to create one of the most terrifying scenes from 'Jurassic Park'

AND: THEN & NOW: The cast of 'Jurassic Park' 22 years later

AND: The velociraptors in the 'Jurassic Park' movies are nothing like their real-life counterparts

AND: Here's how the 'Jurassic World' dinosaurs looked in real life

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

Hands down the best character in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," the follow-up to the 2012 hit, was the introduction of a new character, Vision.

Played by Paul Bettany, who up until this point has solely voiced Tony Stark's A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S., Vision is a human android who fights alongside the Avengers.

Business Insider spoke with Bettany on playing the character.

While he had a great time as the superhero, he says it took over three hours each day to do the makeup for the film.

"Mainly the pain in the ass was the prosthetics and stuff that you know is as uncomfortable as getting paid a lot of money to be uncomfortable is, which is not really that uncomfortable," Bettany said.

"It wasn’t even the putting it on — it was the sitting in it, you know. The putting it on — which took about three and a half hours — with prosthetics, makeup, and all of that, and then the suit ... It was the sitting in it. The first day was OK, and it wasn’t even the second day really, but the third day in a row and the fourth and the fifth day was … you had to really get kind of Zen about it, and meditate on the line of 1,000 actors behind you that would like to be in your position, you know?"

Special-effects makeup artist Shaune Harrison, who worked on the character for about five months, tells Business Insider that Vision's makeup was a combination of prosthetics and digital makeup.

"Most of the lines on the front part of his face are added digitally," Harrison wrote in an email.

Bettany described the effort of the makeup team transforming him each day.

"The makeup on my face, which, you know, they’re huge prosthetic pieces that go from below my eyebrows all the way down to the mid-shoulder blade. And same thing around my neck. The only part of your skin of your entire body that’s open to the air is a sort of … part of your face the size of maybe your hand."

Once he was in the getup, what was the experience like?

"You can’t hear very well," Bettany said. "You can imagine it’s quite isolating and you have a cooling mechanism, which is a suit beneath it that pumps a sort of ice-cold water around you like racing car drivers use, and there’s a lot of sitting down, reading, and just trying to focus on how very fortunate you are."

There aren't any images available yet of Bettany making his transformation into the superhero.

We'd be surprised if we don't see some when the film is eventually released on Blu-ray.

SEE ALSO: Moments after Paul Bettany was told his career was dead, he was asked to play the Vision

AND: Marvel broke its own movie rule to let Paul Bettany play a new superhero in "Avengers: Age of Ultron"

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NOW WATCH: Here's Why Stan Lee Says You Should Never Do Something Just For Money

It is well-known at this point that "Jurassic World," the latest installment of the "Jurassic Park" franchise, diverges from the science when it comes to its portrayal of dinosaurs.

In real life, many of the dinosaurs vary in size and are often covered in feathers, but a few of them actually don't look that different.

Let's start with Velociraptor, one of the most feared creatures in the "Jurassic Park" universe:

In reality, the Velociraptor could be more easily compared to either a turkey or a coyote:

The look of Velociraptors in the film was actually based more off of Deinonychus ...

... as well as a Utahraptor which was discovered as the original "Jurassic Park" was being made:

One of the most terrifying new dinosaurs introduced in "Jurassic World" is the Mosasaurus, which makes even a great white shark look tiny.

The real Mosasaurus isn't actually a dinosaur and it didn't have spikes along its back.

The Mosasaurus is really "marine lizard that's more closely related to snakes and lizards," according to Dr. John Hutchinson. 

However, that is nowhere near the biggest problem with the film's depiction.

According to Mark Witton, an illustrator who researches and specializes in dinosaurs, that misconception is based off depictions of this animal from the 1890s. The mistake was cleared up in the early 1900s. 

"The ["Jurassic World"] press has been showing their mosasaur has a series of scutes along it's back, similar to depictions of these animals by artists working in the 1890s. These Victorian artists were misled by bones which had dislocated from the throat to lie along the top of fossil skeletons, but this mistake was recognised by the early 1900s." Witton told Business Insider. "Indeed, we actually know quite a lot about mosasaur skin, and that they went to some length to be very streamlined and smooth."

After making a brief cameo in "Jurassic Park," the Gallimimus returned for "Jurassic World":

The real Gallimimus was actually fairly similar, but with a lot more feathers.

Here is a Pteranodon, the unlucky victim of the much larger Mosasaurus:

And here's a sketch of what the winged animal (who isn't actually a dinosaur) probably looked like:

The Pteranodon was actually a Pterosaur, which is "a winged reptile which is very, very, very closely related to dinosaurs but not a dinosaur," according to Hutchinson.

Witton, who has consulted on several films about Pterosaurs in general, called the "Jurassic World" interpretation of the Pteranodon "among the worst reconstructions [he's] ever seen."

"No pterosaur had feet like that, and they certainly couldn't pick things up with them as shown in the trailers." Witton told Business Insider.

And finally, there's the almighty T. rex:

The real T. rex was still huge, but it was actually covered in feathers. 

Some have jokingly compared the T. rex to a "giant chicken." But still, would you want to mess with it?

"Jurassic World" opens in theaters Friday.

SEE ALSO: ‘Jurassic World’ completely ignores these important discoveries scientists have made about dinosaurs

AND: The velociraptors in the 'Jurassic Park' movies are nothing like their real-life counterparts

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NOW WATCH: 5 science facts 'Jurassic World' totally ignored

"Jurassic World" had a huge opening weekend at the box office, and it only continues to get bigger.

The film, which debuted to an estimated $204.6 million in North America, opened to $307.2 million overseas, bringing its worldwide opening weekend to $511.8 million.

That figure not only makes it Universal's largest box-office opening ever, but also the largest worldwide opening for a movie ever and the only to crack $500 million in its first weekend. The 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2' is second all-time at $483 million.

Universal's last big film, April's "Furious 7,"opened to $147 million. The sequel has made over $1.5 billion worldwide.

Starring Chris Pratt ("Guardians of the Galaxy"), "Jurassic World" is well on its way to becoming Universal's next billion-dollar movie of 2015.

Here are some of the box-office totals around the world for "Jurassic World" via BoxOffice.com:

China: $100.8 million
UK/Ireland: $29.6 million
Mexico: $16.2 million
South Korea: $14.4 million
France: $12.5 million
Germany: $11 million
Russia: $9.4 million
India: $7.1 million
Spain: $7 million
Brazil: $6.3 million
Malaysia: $5.7 million
Italy: $5.3 million
Philippines: $5.3 million

SEE ALSO: 12 things you probably didn't know about the original "Jurassic Park"

AND: Why it took 10 years to bring "Jurassic World" to theaters

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today

Not only has Universal's "Jurassic World" brought the franchise back from near extinction, it chewed up and spit out every box-office prediction to come in vastly ahead of expectations.

The tentpole opened to an estimated $511.8 million at the global box office this weekend, the top showing of all time, stomping past previous record-holder "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2" ($483.2 million) and becoming the first film to ever cross $500 million in one weekend. That includes $204.6 million in North America, the No. 2 showing behind "The Avengers" ($207.4 million). And if Sunday is stronger than expected, "Jurassic World" could even beat "Avengers."

So how was "Jurassic World," directed by Colin Trevorrow, able to roar louder than a T. Rex? Here, The Hollywood Reporter looks at some of the reasons it is so big:

1. Boys Love Their Dinosaurs

Males made up 58% of the audience, and particularly younger males, who are an endangered species at the box office. That's why so many tentpoles have underperformed in North America in recent times. Males are also more willing to shell out extra money for Imax and 3D, helping to explain why nearly half of the film's gross is coming from 3D houses. According to Rentrak's PostTrak service, 50% of ticket buyers were under the age of 25, a hearty showing. And of the kids turning out with their families, nearly 60% were boys, including 24% under the age of 10. (In the run-up to the movie's opening, Universal sister company NBC aired the original "Jurassic Park" on stations across the country.)

2. Nostalgia

"Jurassic World" certainly had no trouble luring older consumers who remember seeing Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" on the big screen 22 years ago. There were two more films in the "Jurassic" series, but the dinos lost their bite and the series languished. But fans of the first film apparently never lost hope that the franchise would make a comeback and were more than willing to give "Jurassic World" a chance.

3. Chris Pratt

The affable actor toiled for years in supporting roles before "Guardians of the Galaxy," James Gunn's quirky superhero movie, surprised and transformed into a global hit last summer. Thanks to "Guardians" and "Jurassic World," he's now a bona fide leading man— and one of the world's biggest stars in terms of box-office clout. (In "Jurassic World," he shares top billing with Bryce Dallas Howard.)

4. China

The majority of Hollywood tentpoles don't get to open right away in China, depressing the overall global opening. But not"Jurassic World." The movie rolled out in 66 foreign markets over the weekend, earning $307.2 million — including $100.8 million in China. Put another way, that's one-fifth of the tentpole's entire global gross. The only major market where "Jurassic World" has yet to open is Japan.

5. Theme Parks

Millions of consumers around the globe have become familiar with the dinosaur property via Universal's theme parks, which have made huge gains in the past four years in terms of attendance and revenue. There are multiple "Jurassic Park" attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood, Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Universal Studios Japan, and Universal Studios Singapore. NBC Universal's expanding theme-park business is thriving, and is the fastest-growing segment of the media company.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today

Jurassic World’s central conceit — a theme park full of dinos — sure seems like the kind of thing that, in real life, would sell a lot of tickets. But given the likelihood of those same dinosaurs running loose and eating park-goers — well, that’s a bit of an insurance issue, isn’t it? 

Not really! It turns out that the folks behind an IRL Jurassic World could probably get a relatively decent coverage package, albeit a more expensive one than anything a real zoo or wildlife park would pay. That's according to Mitchel Kalmanson, president of the Lester Kalmanson Insurance Agency, Inc., a Florida-based insurance company that specializes in "rare and unusual risks" in the animal and entertainment worlds, working on coverage for movie animals, research labs, private collections, and large zoos.

Before even getting to the dinosaurs, Kalmanson says the park would have to get coverage for some standard theme-park risks: ride liability, in case anyone gets injured by a park vehicle; "trip and fall exposures" to cover anyone who gets hurt in a fall for whatever reason; food and concession liability in case anyone gets sick; and workers' comp and medical plans for all employees.

Next up is making sure the animals are housed in a way that prevents them from getting out or tourists from getting into their enclosures. "If the animal is 20-feet tall, we may have to have a 30- or 50-foot wall," Kalmanson says. "We're going to make sure we have a lot of electric fencing, a lot of voltage to keep them from climbing or scaling the enclosure. We'll put some netting over it, so nobody can get in like that guy at the Bronx Zoo who jumped from the monorail into the tiger pit. Then maybe we'll put up some Lexan, a bulletproof glass that doesn't obstruct views, and people can't get over it." 

Then you're going to need contingency plans for when an animal escapes. The first step is to have a lot of the Chris Pratt types, animal experts who know how to handle the situation with minimal risk to civilians. As Kalmanson explains, "You have to have training for your staff for sedation or euthanasia, having the chemical immobilization training, dart guns on site with the proper tranquilizer. Then you also have containment areas, escape routes and escape areas for the public to go and wait."

As an underwriter, Kalmanson comes up with a "composite rate" based on how the facility is set up and the collection of animals, which are usually divided into classes based on threat levels. “Class 1 is your elephants, lions, tigers, bears, big primates,” he says. “Class 2 would be the smaller cats, desert cats, margays, servals, maybe cheetahs. Class 3 are all others. And then, of course, you have your venomous and nonvenomous animals, and then you have fishes and marine mammals, sharks, penguins, and all that." 

He also provides mortality insurance for animals based on species, rareness, ability to reproduce, prior medical conditions, etc. "If you've got a one-of-a-kind cloned dinosaur, how much money do you estimate you're going to generate off the gate?” Kalmanson wonders. “You don't want your animals getting killed by lightning, poison, natural causes, etc. For example, killer whales are in the $3-5 million range; Asian elephants are $1-3 million; gorillas, if you can get them, $500,000 to $1.5 million; and white tigers that can perform in acts are $15-35,000 each."

Jurassix World's gyrosphere ride, which you see in the image at the top of this page, is also problematic. "Nine times out of ten,” says Kalmanson, “when you’re at an amusement park you're with a trained guide who won't put you in harm's way. Some parks, like Disney, they'll take you in a Disneymobile so you're under their auspices and not allowed to drive freely. It's safer, it's controlled, and they know where the animals can go and can't go. From a Hollywood standpoint, [Jurassic World’s] spherical globes are great, but in reality, we wouldn't have them if an animal could smash it and grab the people inside."

Okay, but let’s say the worst happens and you’re at the park when there’s a stegosaurus stampede. What sort of payout might you be looking at? That depends on whether or not you suffered injuries. "We had an issue where a crane operator came into a zoo and damn if he didn't just put his hand in a cage to pet a tiger — off comes his thumb,” says Kalmanson. “You're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars for the pain of suffering and permanent injury. We had a monkey get hold of a kid once. There was a barrier fence but the mother decided to put the kid over the fence, so what's the kid going to do? Walk up to the monkey. What's the monkey going to do? Bite the shit out of the kid. Now the kid's scarred for life. That could be a $300-500,000 claim."

Injury payouts like those are calculated as a percentage of the coverage plan's limit. "Normally, in a death, you would get the full policy limit," Kalmanson says. "If you have $1 million in coverage and I've got a death in the family, I would demand $1 million."

With the risks involved, Kalmanson says he'd recommend the Jurassic World park have excess liability insurance, which is a secondary plan that offers higher payouts than the primary coverage plan, to cover extreme situations. "If we're dealing with dinosaurs, we're probably looking at 25, 50, up to $100 million limit of liability to protect the public. That's probably an $800,000 to $1.5 million annual premium. If you're building a park where lots of animals escaped in the past and killed people, they're paying a hell of a lot of premium with a huge deductible. It depends on the mitigating factors — could it have been prevented, was it human failure, was the fence not big enough? Historically, we would add on 25 to 75 percent surcharge to the premium. Or we might say, 'You take the first $5 million claim, and then we'll pick up anything over.'"

The lesson? To paraphrase the late John Hammond, if you must build a dinosaur theme park, spare no expense and cover your ass.

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NOW WATCH: 5 science facts 'Jurassic World' totally ignored

“Dope,” the Sundance Film Festival hit that will open in theaters this Friday, will be the first movie to accept digital currency to pay for tickets.

According to The Wrap, beginning Monday, the film’s distributor, Open Road Films, will allow Bitcoin users to buy tickets on MovieTickets.com at more than 900 theaters in the U.S.

The payment platform, GoCoin, will make the process transaction similar to a credit-card purchase.

The film, directed by Rick Famuyiwa, follows Malcolm (Shameik Moore), a geek living in Los Angeles’ Inglewood section who loves 90s hip-hop and has a large knowledge about modern technology.

Malcolm actually uses BitCoin in the movie when he and his friends are in a jam and even tells his mother early on in the film, “I just read that money as we know it is dead. Soon the world is only going to buy and sell products using Bitcoins.”

“Bitcoin is an integral part of ‘Dope’ and we could not be more excited to bring this unique new opportunity to moviegoers,” said Open Road Chief Marketing Officer Jason Cassidy in a statement.

Though you can do more with Bitcoin these day like use it to buy Microsoft apps and products, it’s still a service that's on the fringe, as hacker Alex McGeorge points out in The Wrap story.

“I don’t know that I could convince my grandma to use Bitcoin,” he said. “It seems mostly like a young person’s game.”

And in an age where smaller movies like "Dope" (budgeted in the neighborhood of $1 million) have to compete against Goliaths like “Jurassic World,” that’s exactly who Open Road Films hopes will find this appealing.

Check out the trailer for "Dope" below.

SEE ALSO: The future of Bitcoin is China

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“Jurassic World” gives you exactly what you asked for and maybe a little more.

Oh, you want to watch a giant, freakish, unidentified dinosaur eat people? You’ve got it. You want deep nostalgic feelings for one of the best blockbusters of all time? Here, take these night vision goggles. 

However, if you were hoping for a neat, streamlined story, you might want to look elsewhere.

“Jurassic World” is the first sequel to “Jurassic Park,” Spielberg’s 1993 classic, that doesn't feel ashamed of the fact that it is a sequel to “Jurassic Park.” In fact, the events of the film completely ignore everything from "The Lost World," and "Jurassic Park III," and act as a direct sequel to the first movie. It is the best sequel in the series so far, but maybe that isn’t saying a lot. Of course, it takes on a lot of the formula of its predecessors, but it actually does have some new things to say. 

22 years after the dream of John Hammond was squashed by some renegade Velociraptors, a new dinosaur theme park has opened. This time, it is called Jurassic World, and it's built on the foundation of Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar. If horror movies have taught the world one lesson, its that you should never build your house on an Indian burial ground. 

The park is now run by the uptight Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) who is worried about profits and investors even as attendance for Jurassic World is spiking. While the original park resembled a wildlife reserve, Jurassic World looks more like SeaWorld (especially with all the talk of keeping animals isolated in captivity), complete with a Stegosaurus petting zoo, unbearably long lines, and a Starbucks.

For a giant popcorn movie, “Jurassic World” is surprisingly self-aware and even thoughtful.

The story centers mostly around the creation of Indominus Rex, a hybrid dinosaur made up of the DNA of T. rex and several other undisclosed creatures. Indominus is created because, according to Claire, people are bored by regular old dinosaurs now. They have been around in this world long enough that they are just like any other animal. Thus, Jurassic World needs something new and scary, just like the “Jurassic Park” franchise needed a fresh new voice. 

Clearly, Claire is wrong. We weren't bored by dinosaurs; we were bored by bad storytelling. And that misunderstanding is probably why a lot of people end up getting eaten.

As a summer blockbuster, “Jurassic World” works well as escapist fun, and the blinding nostalgia of the past certainly helps. It’ll be impossible not to cheer as a few recognizable dinosaurs from the past are reintroduced.

But it doesn’t just reintroduce some old elements for the sake of striking a cheap emotional cord. 

It might only be a minor spoiler to say that there is a scene where the latest kids running from dinosaurs (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) stumble into some recognizable items.

The “Jurassic Park” series is a strange, inconsistent franchise, in that it is always abandoning characters and locations in exchange for more dinosaurs. The biggest strength of “Jurassic World” is its focus on world-building. You really get the sense that this expansive theme park is actually a nightmare in disguise. It is more than enough to kick off the next few “Jurassic” sequels which will definitely happen now.

The dinosaurs of “Jurassic World” feel like the most fully fleshed out characters here. While the trained Velociraptors go against all rules of science, it is a good twist. It feels like “Terminator 2,” in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator goes from bad guy to good guy. 

Perhaps what “Jurassic World” could have used more of is better human characters. Bryce Dallas Howard does her best with a fairly bland character. Meanwhile, a divorce subplot is inexplicably added in and then completely dropped, just one of the many open threads that are never closed in the film.

However, Chris Pratt is great as Owen, the navy seal and friend of the Velociraptors. Pratt plays Owen like a mix of Indiana Jones and Crocodile Dundee. Pratt is not the lead actor here, but that doesn't stop him from stealing every scene he is in. I suspect that had “World” gone into development after “Guardians of the Galaxy” came out, Pratt would have gotten a lot more screen time.

Also great in the necessary role of comic relief is Jake Johnson as Lowery, who seems to be taking Samuel L. Jackson's old job. You might know Johnson as Nick Miller in "New Girl," and also for his role in "Jurassic World" director Colin Trevorrow's first feature "Safety Not Guaranteed."

But sometimes, the character who provides comic relief is never allowed to be more than that.

Lowery comes to work in a Jurassic Park shirt that came from the original park that he found on eBay. His co-worker (Lauren Lapkus) reminds him that this is in poor taste because "people died there."

This meta moment is crucial.

“Jurassic World” really wants to be the next “Jurassic Park,” but there is a key difference. While “Jurassic Park” played off our love of dinosaurs, “Jurassic World” plays off our love of “Jurassic Park.”

It gets that, and that is why it tries to spoon-feed both the nostalgia and the new stuff that a sequel should provide. Director Colin Trevorrow ("Safety Not Guaranteed") doesn’t have Spielberg’s gift for build-up, but he definitely learned a lot from him. While the blood dripping from the tree was a great visual effect, it would have been nice if they waited a little bit longer to introduce Indominus.

You have to give Trevorrow a lot of credit for taking on “Jurassic World”: This was a film meant to attract a huge audience that could have easily made a lot of people angry if done incorrectly. After all, “Jurassic World” was in development hell for 10 years.

In doing so, he made a mainstream movie packed with weird ideas. This is a big dinosaur picture that also decides to bring in the military and condemn SeaWorld. It doesn’t always work, but you admire how much he throws at the wall. 

“Jurassic World,” tries to show that sometimes, it's okay not to give in to all of your audience’s demands. When you do that, you end up with a flesh-eating Frankenstein dinosaur.

Overall, one of the points of sequels is to introduce an old story to a new audience. If "Jurassic World" is somebody's first introduction to "Jurassic Park," then it's not a terrible place to start.

SEE ALSO: Why it took 10 years to bring 'Jurassic World' to theaters

AND: ‘Jurassic World’ completely ignores these important discoveries scientists have made about dinosaurs

AND: Here's how the 'Jurassic World' dinosaurs looked in real life

AND: 'Jurassic World' is the first movie ever to crack $500 million in its opening weekend

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NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

"Jurassic World" broke several box-office records opening weekend.

Not only did it beat the all-time opening weekend for the month of June at the box office, the fourth installment of the "Jurassic Park" franchise smashed the highest-opening weekend record and had the biggest debut for a movie ever worldwide.

That's incredible if you know "Jurassic World" was an incredibly difficult monster to bring to screen.

The film was sitting in what's referred to as "development" hell for a good decade due to multiple delays and script rewrites.  

The estimated $150 million budget was split between Universal Pictures and Legendary. 

Reviews were kept under embargo until right before the film's release. (Typically, when that occurs, it's not looking too good for the movie.)

While all of the film's reviews certainly aren't glowing, the film is undeniably a crowd pleaser. (The numbers don't lie.)

The film's director, Colin Trevorrow, was previously known for directing just ONE film — indie darling “Safety Not Guaranteed” starring Aubrey Plaza as a reporter who follows around a man who believes he has built a time machine.

That film had a reported $750,000 budget. 

Going from that to a potential blockbuster with a budget in the millions can be quite daunting a task.

And you know what?

Trevorrow succeeded.

He more than succeeded. 

After the initial box office numbers rolled in Sunday, Trevorrow tweeted out a simple thank you to the fans who made the records possible. 

Trevorrow has already said he won't be returning to direct any "Jurassic World" sequel, but he doesn't need to. He's already going out on top, solidifying a place for himself in the record books.

SEE ALSO: Why it took 10 years to bring "Jurassic World" to the big screen

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NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today

For fans of the "Back to the Future" franchise, a lost scene from the 1985 film might taint your image of the "genuinely likable" Dr. Emmet "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd). 

In the deleted scene, Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly brings the 1955 version of Doc a suitcase filled with Doc's personal belongings from 1985. 

Sifting through the suitcase with an incredulous look, Doc is initially amazed to find that people in the '80s have personal hair dyers and still use cotton underwear ("I thought for sure we'd all be wearing disposable paper garments by 1985," he says.)

Doc then reaches back into the suitcase, opens a Playboy magazine to the centerfold and says, with a wide-eyed stare, "Suddenly the future's looking a whole lot better."

As Huffington Post points out, though, the first issue of Playboy was actually released in 1953, two years before the deleted scene takes place, so it's a bit unlikely that it would have taken Doc another 30 years to discover the magazine. 

Nonetheless, it's not hard to imagine why the scene got cut. It's incredibly slow-paced and entirely out of character for the genial genius that Christopher Lloyd plays throughout the film series. 

Watch the full clip below:

SEE ALSO: 21 Things 'Back To The Future 2' Got Wrong About 2015

MORE: These 20 stars from blockbuster movies were replaced in the sequels — here's why

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"Jurassic World"smashed box-office records this weekend, in part thanks to the universal appeal of its star, Chris Pratt.

But Pratt, who worked with a trainer six days a week to prepare for the role, didn't always have muscles bulging through his shirts.

Despite Pratt's superfit physique in "Jurassic World," the 35-year-old actor's latest look is actually less intense than last summer.

Before shooting the long-awaited "Jurassic Park" sequel, Pratt initially got in insane shape to star in August's "Guardians of the Galaxy."

In order to prepare for the action-packed role, the actor lost 60 pounds in just six months.

Last July, Pratt posted a photo to his Instagram account showing off his dramatic weight loss and newfound six-pack.

How did he do it? "Six months no beer. #GOTG Kinda douchey to post this but my brother made me," Pratt wrote alongside the below photo.

In reality, the process of losing pounds was a bit tougher.

"Three or four hours a day of just consistent, ass-kicking hard work," he told Men's Fitness.

Pratt's workouts included P90X , running, swimming, boxing, and kickboxing, and he even completed a triathlon.

With the help of a personal trainer and nutritionist, the actor increased his caloric intake to 4,000 calories a day and drank tons of water. "I was peeing all day long, every day," Pratt told the magazine. "That part was a nightmare."

But the actor was happy to learn he could still eat on the intense weight-loss program.

"I actually lost weight by eating more food, but eating the right food, eating healthy foods, and so when I was done with the movie my body hadn't been in starvation mode," Pratt told People magazine. "It wasn't like I was triggered to just gorge myself and get really fat again."

Now, he says: "It's something that I think I can maintain because I don't spend four hours in the gym each day. I do maybe one hour in the gym maybe four days a week, and that's it."

Pratt joked to Vulture of his weight loss and gain for roles: "I just like to gain weight and lose weight. It's a roller-coaster. I just want to do this. I want to touch God."

Before beefing up, Pratt was best known for playing the bumbling Andy on NBC's "Parks and Recreation."

Pratt says he packed on 60 pounds for his role as a lawyer in 2013's "Delivery Man," in which he costarred alongside Vince Vaughn.

"The first 20 pounds was sympathy weight because my wife was pregnant," Pratt told SheKnows. "I was gaining weight as she was gaining weight ... The other 35 pounds I did just by declaring that I was going to do it. And then my rule of thumb became: 'If it's there, eat it.' And then I would order two entrees at every meal. I would always have dessert, and I would drink the darkest beer on the menu."

But before that, in 2012, he got into tip-top shape for the Oscar-winning film "Zero Dark Thirty."

To play a Navy SEAL, Pratt told People he "was doing 500 push-ups a day, working out at the gym, running five miles a day, but with no food, and I tore my body apart ... I felt terrible afterwards, had to get shoulder surgery, and I wore myself down doing that because I didn't have the proper coaching."

At the film's premiere months later, Pratt told E! Online: "I was about 50 pounds or 40 pounds lighter than I am now. I worked out really hard and I cut out everything bad for me for a long time and I just focused on trying to become a believable Navy SEAL."

The actor shared the below photo of his physique while filming during an appearance on "Conan."

In 2011, Pratt played real-life Oakland A's baseball player Scott Hatteberg — opposite Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman — in "Moneyball."

Before that, Pratt appeared as Anne Hathaway's ill-fated fiancé in the 2009 comedy "Bride Wars."

That same year, he married his real-life love, actress Anna Faris.

The comedic couple, who welcomed their first child in 2012, showed off their svelte physiques promoting "Guardians of the Galaxy" last July.

This June, the couple have again been busy promoting Pratt's latest summer blockbuster, "Jurassic World."

Despite Pratt's A-list looks these days, let's not forget that a lighter-haired Pratt starred as Bright Abbott on the WB's "Everwood" way back in 2002.

SEE ALSO: 'Jurassic World' is the first movie ever to crack $500 million in its opening weekend

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NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today

Paramount's mega-successful, micro-budget "Paranormal Activity" series just got a new revenue stream.

"Paranormal Activity" will team with VRWERX to expand into virtual reality with a "Paranormal Activity" VR game slated to be released for all major head-monitor displays. That includes HTC Vive, Sony’s Project Morpheus, Oculus Rift; PC; mobile; and consoles, including Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

“Paranormal Activity” is the second highest-grossing horror franchise of all time and has earned more than $800 million worldwide to date. The sixth film in the series, “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension,” will be released in October.

There aren't many details surrounding the the concept of the game, but here's what was stated in the press release:

“Paranormal Activity is the perfect property for VRWERX. This franchise represents a huge audience that loves visceral, unbridled terror, which we intend to intensify through the incredible immersion that only virtual reality enables. Our goal is for the Paranormal Activity VR video game to not only be the scariest game you’ve ever played, but the scariest experience you’ve ever had!”

SEE ALSO: 'Creep' starring Mark Duplass is no-budget horror done right

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NOW WATCH: 6 scientifically proven features men find attractive in women

Pixar continues to top itself with nearly every new film it makes. 

Their latest, "Inside Out," doesn't open until Friday, but it is already sitting at an impressive 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from 35 straight reviews. 

Before general audiences were able to see a single frame of it, "Mad Max: Fury Road" also briefly sat at 100% this summer. It was dethroned a few days later, but at 98%, it isn't doing too bad, either. 

Hype has been slowly yet strongly building for "Inside Out" ever since footage first debuted. Rave reviews came out when it screened at Cannes back in May. The script brought stars Mindy Kaling and Amy Poehler to tears.

Those who have seen it are comparing it to some of Pixar's best movies. The comparison may come with merit, as it stacks up well next to the Tomatometer of a few of Pixar's best films:

"Toy Story": 100%

"Toy Story 2": 100%

"Toy Story 3": 99%

"Finding Nemo": 99%

"UP": 98%

And here's how "Inside Out" ranks so far against some of this summer's biggest movies:

"Mad Max: Fury Road": 98%

"Avengers: Age of Ultron": 74%

"Jurassic World": 70%

Could "Inside Out" remain on top all summer?

"Inside Out" will be released in theaters Friday, June 19.

SEE ALSO: 'Inside Out' is Pixar's most stunning animated film since 'Finding Nemo'

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You’ve seen “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and “Jurassic World.” Though you concede they are all thrilling and visually stunning, you’re still searching for movies this summer with a little bit more … story.

Thankfully there are two movies in theaters that can help feed that need.

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and Rick Famuyiwa’s “Dope” on the surface look like two very different movies, from where they're set to dialogue and characters. But they have a lot in common.

Both films played at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and walked away with awards (for “Me and Earl” the prestigious Audience Award and Grand Jury prizes, and for “Dope” best editing), they both look at modern-day high-school life, and they have both been thrust in the middle of the summer blockbuster season (“Me and Earl” is in theaters; “Dope” opens Friday).

Distributors Fox Searchlight (“Me and Earl”) and Open Road Films (“Dope”) are using the classic counter-programming maneuver in the hopes that audiences who aren’t into Hollywood blockbusters, or by mid-June are ready for something new, will give these indie darlings a try.

This was a play Searchlight had success with when releasing the cult comedy “Napoleon Dynamite” in mid-June 2004.

Building off the success of the film-festival circuit without a star or name director, the film had an impressive opening weekend take of $117,000 and went on to have a total domestic gross of over $44 million (the film’s budget was around $400,000).

In its opening weekend “Me and Earl” took in similar numbers with over $196,000.

For this weekend, “Dope” is also getting creative in their purchase options, allowing tickets to be purchased via Bitcoin, making it the first time digital currency has ever been allowed for ticket sales.

But strategic placement and gimmicks aside, the movies are strong enough to grab the attention of even the most dedicated Hollywood blockbuster moviegoer.

In “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” we follow the senior year of outsider Greg (Thomas Mann). With a daily existence that includes staying friendly with all the different cliques at his Pittsburgh high school (but not committed to any) and making ultra-low-budget knocks-offs of classic films with his buddy Earl (RJ Cyler), Greg’s priorities change when he befriends Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a classmate who has recently been diagnosed with cancer.

The story has a been-there-done-that feel, but the style is a fresh one to the high-school dramedy genre with its creative use of stop-motion animation and high IQ in movie geekdom.

“Dope” is set in the Inglewood neighborhood (known to those who live there as “The Bottoms”) of Los Angeles and follows another geek, Malcolm (Shameik Moore), and his two friends Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons).

Unlike Greg and Earl, who have zero aspirations, Malcolm and his crew have high hopes for the future. Keeping away from the gang culture of South Los Angeles and completely obsessed with ’90s hip-hop, their main goal is to leave the 'hood and get into college, especially Malcolm, who has aspirations to attend Harvard.

But things get complicated when Malcolm goes to the party of the neighborhood drug dealer and unknowingly leaves with drugs. Malcolm and friends then embark on an adventure through LA to get rid of the goods. 

If you listened to hip-hop in the ’90s, you will likely love “Dope.”

It’s filled with nostalgic tracks from A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Public Enemy, Digital Underground, and Naughty By Nature, curated by executive producer Pharrell Williams. They are perfectly placed and elevate the enjoyment of the story that’s part “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” part “Friday.”

What both films exemplify is that movies with strong stories (and without massive explosions) can survive in the summer months. Whether the hook is geek culture, or a killer soundtrack, once you’re watching, it’s the excellent crafting of these characters by Gomez-Rejon and Famuyiwa that keep you engrossed for the next few hours.

This weekend, take a break from the CGI-fueled blockbusters and check out one of these films instead.

And if you need more convincing, here are the trailers for both films.

SEE ALSO: Here's how Chris Pratt got in such great shape for "Jurassic World"

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