Soon after premiering at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival "Dinosaur 13" was the first deal closed.The film then was exhibited at festivals and in theaters throughout the country. "Dinosaur 13" will make its global television premiere on CNN/U.S. Tonight, Dec. 11 at 9:00pm Pst and 11:00pm Est.
When paleontologist Peter Larson and his team from South Dakota’s Black Hills Institute made one of the world’s greatest dinosaur discoveries in 1990, they knew it was the discovery of a lifetime — the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found. The dinosaur quickly became known to the world as ‘Sue,’ named after amateur paleontologist, Susan Hendrickson, who located the first fossil fragments of the historic find.
“We are honored to be sharing this amazing story of scientific discovery with CNN’s audience. CNN Films’ multiple platform approach is the perfect fit for this story – and the type of films we plan to produce,” said award-winning filmmaker Todd Douglas Miller.
Larson recalls the exhilaration of the find, and of toiling in more than 100°F to recover the skeleton before it could be damaged by weather, oxidation, and other forces of erosion: “We all wanted to see what the skeleton was going to look like,” Larson says in the film.
“It was – it still is today – the most exciting, the most wonderful excavation – the most incredible thing we have ever done,” his brother, Neal Larson echoes.
Through interviews with the principal players in the story that unfolds, Miller portrays what happened next. Shortly after the excavation, a ten-year battle ensued with the U.S. government, powerful museums, Native American communities, and competing paleontologists over the legal custody of Sue.
Academic paleontologists were outraged that a historic find would be planned for exhibition at a commercial facility (the Black Hills Institute), Native American communities filed complaints that the find was improperly removed from land that belonged to them. And, in an unusual argument, the federal government requested nullification of the sale of the prospect rights for the fossil by the landowner, who now also argued that he had never intended to sell Sue to Larson.
In the government’s view, the fossil had become land, making it inappropriate to transport, attempt to auction, or purchase Sue without legal standing. Larson and his crew soon found themselves fighting for their own freedom.
After tonight "Dinosaur 13" will be available in simulcast via CNNgo by logging in with a TV provider username and password on CNN’s iPad app or at www.CNN.com/go. The film will encore on CNN on Sunday, Dec. 14, at 9:00pm and 11:00pm Est.
The next CNN Films broadcast premiere will be "Life Itself", a biographical profile of renowned film critic Roger Ebert, which has been shortlisted among 15 other films to compete for the Academy Award in the Best Feature Documentary category.
For more information about "Dinosaur 13" please visit www.cnn.com/dinosaur13.
About CNN Films
CNN Films produces and acquires documentary feature films for theatrical exhibition and distribution across CNN’s multiple platforms. Amy Entelis, svp of talent and content development and Vinnie Malhotra, svp of development and acquisitions, oversee the strategy for CNN Films. For more information about CNN Films, please visit www.cnn.com/CNNFilms and follow [At]CNNFilms via Twitter.
About CNN
CNN Worldwide is a portfolio of two dozen news and information services across cable, satellite, radio, wireless devices and the Internet in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Domestically, CNN reaches more individuals on television, the web and mobile devices than any other cable TV news organization in the United States; internationally, CNN is the most widely distributed news channel reaching more than 271 million households abroad; and CNN Digital is a top network for online news, mobile news and social media. Additionally, CNN Newsource is the world’s most extensively utilized news service partnering with hundreds of local and international news organizations around the world. CNN is division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company.
When paleontologist Peter Larson and his team from South Dakota’s Black Hills Institute made one of the world’s greatest dinosaur discoveries in 1990, they knew it was the discovery of a lifetime — the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found. The dinosaur quickly became known to the world as ‘Sue,’ named after amateur paleontologist, Susan Hendrickson, who located the first fossil fragments of the historic find.
“We are honored to be sharing this amazing story of scientific discovery with CNN’s audience. CNN Films’ multiple platform approach is the perfect fit for this story – and the type of films we plan to produce,” said award-winning filmmaker Todd Douglas Miller.
Larson recalls the exhilaration of the find, and of toiling in more than 100°F to recover the skeleton before it could be damaged by weather, oxidation, and other forces of erosion: “We all wanted to see what the skeleton was going to look like,” Larson says in the film.
“It was – it still is today – the most exciting, the most wonderful excavation – the most incredible thing we have ever done,” his brother, Neal Larson echoes.
Through interviews with the principal players in the story that unfolds, Miller portrays what happened next. Shortly after the excavation, a ten-year battle ensued with the U.S. government, powerful museums, Native American communities, and competing paleontologists over the legal custody of Sue.
Academic paleontologists were outraged that a historic find would be planned for exhibition at a commercial facility (the Black Hills Institute), Native American communities filed complaints that the find was improperly removed from land that belonged to them. And, in an unusual argument, the federal government requested nullification of the sale of the prospect rights for the fossil by the landowner, who now also argued that he had never intended to sell Sue to Larson.
In the government’s view, the fossil had become land, making it inappropriate to transport, attempt to auction, or purchase Sue without legal standing. Larson and his crew soon found themselves fighting for their own freedom.
After tonight "Dinosaur 13" will be available in simulcast via CNNgo by logging in with a TV provider username and password on CNN’s iPad app or at www.CNN.com/go. The film will encore on CNN on Sunday, Dec. 14, at 9:00pm and 11:00pm Est.
The next CNN Films broadcast premiere will be "Life Itself", a biographical profile of renowned film critic Roger Ebert, which has been shortlisted among 15 other films to compete for the Academy Award in the Best Feature Documentary category.
For more information about "Dinosaur 13" please visit www.cnn.com/dinosaur13.
About CNN Films
CNN Films produces and acquires documentary feature films for theatrical exhibition and distribution across CNN’s multiple platforms. Amy Entelis, svp of talent and content development and Vinnie Malhotra, svp of development and acquisitions, oversee the strategy for CNN Films. For more information about CNN Films, please visit www.cnn.com/CNNFilms and follow [At]CNNFilms via Twitter.
About CNN
CNN Worldwide is a portfolio of two dozen news and information services across cable, satellite, radio, wireless devices and the Internet in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Domestically, CNN reaches more individuals on television, the web and mobile devices than any other cable TV news organization in the United States; internationally, CNN is the most widely distributed news channel reaching more than 271 million households abroad; and CNN Digital is a top network for online news, mobile news and social media. Additionally, CNN Newsource is the world’s most extensively utilized news service partnering with hundreds of local and international news organizations around the world. CNN is division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company.
- 12/12/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Chicago – Only in America can an animal die millions of years ago, have its fossilized bones discovered in the 20th Century, and end up in a court of law, determining who she belongs to as if in a child custody case. The story of the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found is chronicled in the new documentary “Dinosaur 13.”
The T-Rex in question is nicknamed Sue, named after her discover Susan Hendrickson, and now resides in the Field Museum of Chicago. Hendrickson was part of a fossil-hunting-for-profit team who uncovered Sue in 1990, only to have a location dispute put her ownership rights into litigation. This story is fascinating, from the viewpoint of what land ownership means, and who owns what is found on said lands. It also is a cautionary tale about messing with the U.S. government, because as this film rightly points out, they mostly use their law...
The T-Rex in question is nicknamed Sue, named after her discover Susan Hendrickson, and now resides in the Field Museum of Chicago. Hendrickson was part of a fossil-hunting-for-profit team who uncovered Sue in 1990, only to have a location dispute put her ownership rights into litigation. This story is fascinating, from the viewpoint of what land ownership means, and who owns what is found on said lands. It also is a cautionary tale about messing with the U.S. government, because as this film rightly points out, they mostly use their law...
- 8/21/2014
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
One of the most impressive things about “Dinosaur 13," Todd Miller’s moving documentary that premiered at Sundance and hits theaters August 15 from Lionsgate, is that it makes the audience realize -- and feel -- what it means to lose something incredibly important. A spouse? No. A child? Not quite. Over the film’s near two-hour running time, we come to understand that to paleontologist Peter Larson -- who with his team in 1990 discovered the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in archeological history, named it Sue, and then became embroiled in a lengthy, well, “custody” battle over her -- this dinosaur is a child he loves very much. He certainly grieves when he loses her. The doc begins in the badlands of South Dakota, where Sue was discovered by Larson’s teammate Susan Hendrickson (thus becoming the dino’s namesake). Using archival footage that would ultimately become instrumental in the court case,...
- 8/15/2014
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Chicago – When the skeletal remains of a long-lost animal is discovered and pulled from the earth, does anybody really own it? That is the question in the new documentary, “Dinosaur 13,” directed by Todd Miller. It’s the story of discovering those dinosaur bones and the implications for the person who exhumed them, Peter Larson.
“Dinosaur 13” ended up being “Sue” – named for the actual person who first saw the bones, Susan Hendrickson – the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex specimen ever discovered. Sue now resides in the Field Museum in Chicago, but her journey to the final resting place was fraught with the 20th Century notion of who owned her. Director Todd Douglas Miller combines archival footage, news reports and re-creations to unfold the only-in-America story of the final journey to rest of a long dead creature.
Peter Larson Works on Sue Around the Time of Discovery in ‘Dinosaur 13’
Photo...
“Dinosaur 13” ended up being “Sue” – named for the actual person who first saw the bones, Susan Hendrickson – the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex specimen ever discovered. Sue now resides in the Field Museum in Chicago, but her journey to the final resting place was fraught with the 20th Century notion of who owned her. Director Todd Douglas Miller combines archival footage, news reports and re-creations to unfold the only-in-America story of the final journey to rest of a long dead creature.
Peter Larson Works on Sue Around the Time of Discovery in ‘Dinosaur 13’
Photo...
- 8/15/2014
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
A bittersweet reminder that while the scientific method may be coolly rational, the people who do science are deeply emotionally caught up in their work. I’m “biast” (pro): love dinosaurs (who doesn’t?)
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Perhaps more amazing than the fact that we know anything at all about dinosaurs is that we can know so much about them with so few specimens to examine. The title of the fascinating Dinosaur 13 refers to the skeleton of the T. rex known as Sue, who now resides at the Field Museum in Chicago: she was, at the time of her discovery in August 1990, only the 13th example of the species ever found, and the biggest and most complete at that. (There have been a few more unearthed since, but not many.) This is the story of the long,...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Perhaps more amazing than the fact that we know anything at all about dinosaurs is that we can know so much about them with so few specimens to examine. The title of the fascinating Dinosaur 13 refers to the skeleton of the T. rex known as Sue, who now resides at the Field Museum in Chicago: she was, at the time of her discovery in August 1990, only the 13th example of the species ever found, and the biggest and most complete at that. (There have been a few more unearthed since, but not many.) This is the story of the long,...
- 8/13/2014
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Miller Asks: Who’s Dinosaur Is It Anyways?
Before 1990, only twelve Tyrannosaurus Rex had ever been discovered. As you may have guessed, Dinosaur 13 documents the incredible discovery of Sue, the thirteenth and most complete specimen to date, by a commercial group of palaeontologists from South Dakota calling themselves the Black Hills Institute and the subsequent legal meltdown that followed shortly thereafter. Make no bones about it, Sue’s story is a naturally riveting tale of rock obsessed rebels caught in a real-estate netherworld where con men and power hungry institutions wield the power to ruin lives and bury dreams, but too soon the dino-hunting excitement and intrigue of this insular world is traded for the tedium of offscreen courtroom drama.
Todd Miller’s debut documentary begins with the sweeping propulsion of Matt Morton’s string compositions matched in perfect rhythm with footage shot by the Black Hills team on...
Before 1990, only twelve Tyrannosaurus Rex had ever been discovered. As you may have guessed, Dinosaur 13 documents the incredible discovery of Sue, the thirteenth and most complete specimen to date, by a commercial group of palaeontologists from South Dakota calling themselves the Black Hills Institute and the subsequent legal meltdown that followed shortly thereafter. Make no bones about it, Sue’s story is a naturally riveting tale of rock obsessed rebels caught in a real-estate netherworld where con men and power hungry institutions wield the power to ruin lives and bury dreams, but too soon the dino-hunting excitement and intrigue of this insular world is traded for the tedium of offscreen courtroom drama.
Todd Miller’s debut documentary begins with the sweeping propulsion of Matt Morton’s string compositions matched in perfect rhythm with footage shot by the Black Hills team on...
- 8/13/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
In 1990, some people found a dinosaur. A pretty big one. Then they dug it up. Obviously there’s more to the story that Dinosaur 13 wants to tell, but that’s a pretty cool start regardless of what happens next. The documentary from Todd Miller focuses on Susan Hendrickson and the Tyrannosaurus rex she found — the largest, best preserved in history — and the struggle that ensues when something groundbreaking happens. As it turns out, doing something massively important attracts all kinds of people who want to take credit for your discovery (or just the discovery itself). Check out the trailer: Looks to be a classic little guy versus big guy situation (so it could be retitled Batman v Superman). Although, reviews out of Sundance were mixed. Kate had this to say her in review: “While Miller certainly has a compelling story on his hands, and Dinosaur 13 has more than enough material and players to paw through...
- 5/27/2014
- by Scott Beggs
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
In 1990, paleontologist Peter Larson and his team discovered the biggest and most complete T. rex skeleton ever recorded in the badlands of South Dakota. Named Sue — after Susan Hendrickson, the woman who initially found the first fossils — the skeleton became a major tourist attraction for Larson’s Black Hill Institute. But in 1992, the FBI arrived with a warrant and the National Guard — and confiscated Sue, claiming that the scientists had stolen her off private property. It seems everyone wanted a piece of Sue. Over the next 10 years, Larson’s team would have to fight in court, not only for their...
- 5/21/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
Lionsgate announced today the limited theatrical, on demand and Digital HD release of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival documentary hit, Dinosaur 13. The film will be available day-and-date in select theaters including New York and Los Angeles, on Friday, August 15, 2014.
When renowned Paleontologist Peter Larson and his team from the Black Hills Institute made the world’s greatest dinosaur discovery in 1990, they knew it was the find of a lifetime: the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found. But during a ten-year battle with the U.S. government, powerful museums, Native American tribes and competing paleontologists, they found themselves not only fighting to keep their dinosaur but fighting for their freedom as well.
Dinosaur 13 is based on the book Rex Appeal: The Amazing Story of Sue, The Dinosaur That Changed Science, The Law and My Life by Peter Larson and Kristin Donnan.
Critics agree that Dinosaur 13 was “quite the...
When renowned Paleontologist Peter Larson and his team from the Black Hills Institute made the world’s greatest dinosaur discovery in 1990, they knew it was the find of a lifetime: the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found. But during a ten-year battle with the U.S. government, powerful museums, Native American tribes and competing paleontologists, they found themselves not only fighting to keep their dinosaur but fighting for their freedom as well.
Dinosaur 13 is based on the book Rex Appeal: The Amazing Story of Sue, The Dinosaur That Changed Science, The Law and My Life by Peter Larson and Kristin Donnan.
Critics agree that Dinosaur 13 was “quite the...
- 5/7/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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