Jurassic World’s Monsters Loose In London

Anyone passing London’s South Bank this week was in for a prehistoric shock when a life-sized mosasaurus apparently burst from the River Thames.

In a literally ground-breaking stunt to mark the release of Jurassic World on Blu-ray and DVD, a seven-metre-high structure was unveiled at Observation Point at sunrise on Monday morning, apparently bursting through the bank near the Oxo Tower and gobbling a great white shark for breakfast.

The installation is based on a mosasaurus, one of the hero creatures from Jurassic World, which shattered box office records globally taking in more than $1.6 billion to become the third highest grossing film in history.

Jurassic World’s producer Frank Marshall attended the unveiling of the installation: “It’s incredible to see the mosasaurus come to life here in London. This huge water-leviathan played a crucial part in the film so we’re thrilled to be able to unveil it to the British public today. It is the biggest creature brought to life on screen in all the Jurassic films and the detail in which it has been created here today is just jaw-dropping.”

The mosasaurus was an immense seagoing lizard measuring 18 metres in length, and weighing 5,000 kilograms when it ruled the Cretaceous sea.  It used its fearsome array of teeth to catch fish, birds and other marine reptiles – even great white sharks.  Its closest living relatives are the komodo dragon and monitor lizard.

The sculpture, which has been two months in the making, was created in Cardiff by Wild Creations, who were also behind the velociraptors that appeared at Waterloo Station in June. With the whole structure standing at seven metres tall, five metres wide and seven metres deep, this is perhaps their most ambitious installation yet.

Matt Wild, owner of Wild Creations, said: “We’re honoured to unveil the mosasaurus in London today and couldn’t be happier with how it’s come out.

“The raptors had such an incredible response back in June and when we got the call to go bigger for the Blu-ray and DVD release we were more than happy to rise to the challenge.  The mosasaurus was first sculpted in three quarters of a tonne of clay then moulded in fibre glass, before being airbrushed to finish.  We installed it overnight in order to unveil it this morning at sunrise.”

Jurassic World is released on Digital HD, 3D Blu-ray™, Blu-ray™ and DVD, courtesy of Universal Pictures (UK).