Prehysteria! (film series)

Prehysteria! is a series of three family-oriented, non-horror, monster movie films made in the early to mid-1990s about the adventures of five miniature baby dinosaurs named after famous pop musicians. The dinosaurs were Elvis, a male Tyrannosaurus rex, Paula, a female Brachiosaurus, Jagger, a male Stegosaurus, Hammer, a male Chasmosaurus, and Madonna, a female Geosternbergia but the crest on its head means that it is a male. The films were made by Moonbeam Entertainment, the family-oriented sub-brand of B-movie producer Charles Band's Full Moon Entertainment. Richard Band, Michael Bishop, and Fuzzbee Morse composed the music for the movies.

In the early 1990s, Charles Band was working on a new label from Full Moon Entertainment, called Moonbeam Entertainment. Moonbeam Entertainment was created specifically for family, science fiction and fantasy films. Films created for children and adults, with no "hard edge" to them. Around the same time, storyboard artist Peter von Sholly, approached Band with a concept about creating a movie about miniature dinosaurs. Band, intrigued with the idea, thought that it was perfect to be the first Moonbeam film. David Allen Productions and Mark Rappaport supplied the special effects to bring the dinosaurs to life for all of the films.

The first Prehysteria was co-directed by Charles and Albert Band and it was released in 1993. The film was such a huge success, and it gained over $100,000,000 in rental sales. Due to its outcome, a sequel was quickly developed, and released in 1994. No character from the first film returned, however Albert Band returned to direct. In 1995, Moonbeam developed a second sequel, entitled "Prehysteria! 3". David DeCoteau directed the film. The only returning character was Owen Bush, from the second film. All of the films were released by Paramount Home Video. *Besides the dinosaurs, Mr. Cranston (Owen Bush) is the only returning character in the series. The Stegosaurus, Jagger, never appeared on the first three film posters. Prehysteria! was Austin O'Brien's first lead role. The Tyrannosaurus, Elvis, and Brachiosaurus, Paula, have appeared on all of the film posters. The dinosaurs in the first three films were realized by traditional stop motion animation and rod puppets. Prehysteria! 2 and Prehysteria! 3 were both aimed at younger audiences. Madonna the Geosternbergia hurt her wing in Prehysteria! 2, so that the producers could save money on the cost of stop motion animation. In Prehysteria! 3, Madonna does not fly. Prehysteria! was the first Moonbeam Entertainment film. Prehysteria 2 was Moonbeam's first sequel. The characters of "Richie", played by Stuart Fratkin and "Louis", played by Tony Longo from the first Prehysteria!, were brought back to star in another Moonbeam Production, "Remote", because they've done so well as comedic thugs in Prehysteria.