No Bones About It --’Jurassic Park’ Era Is Upon the Land : Movies: Crowds devour much-hyped thrills and chills. Off screen, wallet-chomping spinoffs abound.

UNIVERSAL CITY — It was a jungle out there as the mega-marketed, chomping-and-stomping dinosaur action film “Jurassic Park” opened Friday.

At Universal City’s Cineplex Odeon, “Jurassic Park” was playing nonstop on five of the 18 screens, starting at 10:15 a.m. The moviegoing public began its pilgrimage even as workers were applying the finishing touches to the signs, the lights and the thatched-hut souvenir stands.

The background music was disconcerting. Every once in awhile, an ominous note sounded, reminiscent of the “Jaws” theme. So Spielberg.

But it was the piped-in growling of marauding dinosaurs--or was that ruckus just the digestive gurglings of a genetically cloned, temperamentally challenged, human-flesh-eating velociraptor?--that made one’s hair stand on end while walking through the imitation “Jurassic Park” entrance and its lush tropical greenery.

Judging from the reviews of the earliest moviegoers, including Ken Berry’s eighth-grade honors science class from Pasadena’s John Marshall Fundamental School, the movie version of Michael Crichton’s tale of an ambitious theme park, genetic tampering and Fred Flintstone’s worst nightmare is a crowd-pleaser.

The class had been studying dinosaurs and had already read and reviewed the best-selling novel. So it seemed only natural to take in the movie during the end-of-school class trip--even though the science in Crichton’s tale is a bit far-fetched.

The kids loved the chomping--one head for sure, some arms and maybe a goat’s leg, according to the 14-year-olds from Pasadena. “But it wasn’t too gory,” Anteres Anderson quickly added. And there was plenty of stomping. “The whole theater shook,” she said.

One scene in particular made a huge impression on the boys in the audience. Vincent McHenry’s description was among the more tasteful: “A guy got eaten sitting on the toilet.”

It shouldn’t have been any surprise that the kids were wired for this movie.

It’s been virtually impossible to escape the relentless hype that has assaulted the American public for weeks leading up to the premiere.

And the merchandise symbolizing the hype abounded Friday, inspiring what quickly became a moviegoer’s mantra: “I want one. I want one. I want one.”

That’s the first and only thing several young boys said when they spotted the stuffed dinosaur with a $49.95 price tag. Most settled for a smaller, cheaper model. Those with the least indulgent parents got 89-cent buttons.

Spread out under the souvenir huts were some of this summer’s must-have youth fashion statements, coming soon to a child near you. A guaranteed adult wallet chomp.

There’s the “Jurassic Park” official baseball jacket, a deal at $225 if you want your friends to think you worked on the crew. Denim jackets featuring that potentially trendy logo are less of an investment risk at $95. There are the obligatory logo T-shirts ($11.95 for child sizes, $14.95 for adult), beach towels ($6.95), baseball caps ($12.95), movie posters ($6.95) and coffee mugs ($5.95.)

The kids on the school trip were there for education. But the crowd also included adults drawn by the promise of dramatic special effects and unprecedented movie realism.

Matthew Bales, 31, an animator at the Hollywood Cartoon Co. studio, took the day off from work to see the movie because, he said, “It looks kind of artistically pleasing.”

And adults like Darion Topscott Sr. and Don Flores also were impressed by the state-of-the-art sound system.

“It was intense when the dinosaurs started eating people and fighting among each other,” said Topscott, who brought his son Darion Jr., 13, and 12-year-old twin son and daughter Marcellano and Matinique. “They were scared. The average person would be scared. I think it should have gotten an R rating, but I guess they just let things like that go these days.”

Most of the kids admitted being scared, but said they would see the movie again.

“It was very exciting. I was impressed,” said Melissa Flores, 13. “I was biting my fingers.” Older sister Erica, 14, added, “I have scratch marks from my sister. The dinosaurs are like so real.”

The two--both television actresses--weren’t the only ones to get caught up in the special effects.

“Every time I heard one of those dinosaurs roar, I jumped,” said their father, Don, a writer.