Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure movie directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Michael Crichton and David Koepp, based on Crichton's 1990 novel. Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough, the film is set on the fictional island of Isla Nublar near Costa Rica, where wealthy businessman John Hammond (Attenborough) and a team of genetic scientists have created a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs. When industrial sabotage leads to a catastrophic shutdown of the park's power facilities and security precautions, a small group of visitors struggle to survive and escape the now perilous island.
| Jurassic Park | |
|---|---|
Official Logo | |
| Directed by | Steven Spielberg |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton |
| Produced by | |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
| Edited by | Michael Kahn |
| Music by | John Williams |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures[1][2] |
Release dates |
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Running time | 126 minutes[3][4] |
| Country | United States[1][2] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $56–63 million[5] |
| Box office | $1.058 billion[6][7] |
Before Crichton's novel was published, four studios put in bids for its film rights. With the backing of Universal Pictures, Spielberg acquired the rights for $1.5 million. Crichton was hired for an additional $500,000 to adapt the novel for the screen. Koepp wrote the final draft, which left out much of the novel's exposition and violence, and featured numerous changes to the characters. Filming took place in California and Hawaii from August to November 1992. Post-production lasted until May 1993, supervised by Spielberg in Poland as he filmed Schindler's List. The dinosaurs were created with groundbreaking computer-generated imagery by Industrial Light & Magic, and with life-sized animatronic dinosaurs built by Stan Winston's team. To showcase the film's sound design, which included a mixture of various animal noises for the dinosaur sounds, Spielberg invested in the creation of DTS, a company specializing in digital surround sound formats. The film was backed by an extensive $65 million marketing campaign, which included licensing deals with over 100 companies.
Jurassic Park premiered on June 9, 1993, at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C., and was released two days later throughout the United States. It was a blockbuster hit and went on to gross over $914 million worldwide in its original theatrical run, surpassing Spielberg's own E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to become the highest-grossing film of all time until the release of Titanic (1997). The film received critical acclaim, with praise to its special effects, sound design, action sequences, John Williams's score, and Spielberg's direction. The film won 20 awards, including three Academy Awards for technical achievements in visual effects and sound design. Following its 20th anniversary re-release in 2013, Jurassic Park became the oldest film in history to surpass $1 billion in ticket sales and the 17th overall.
Since its release, many film critics and industry professionals have regarded Jurassic Park as one of the greatest films ever made. Its groundbreaking use of computer-generated imagery is widely seen as a turning point that shaped the visual effects techniques used in modern cinema. In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film spawned a multimedia franchise that includes six sequels, video games, theme park attractions, comic books, and various merchandise.
Plot
changeJohn Hammond, the owner of a scientific company, creates a theme park on an island that has dinosaurs which have been brought back to life by being cloned. He invites Dr. Alan Grant, a man who studies dinosaurs and doesn't work well with kids, and Dr. Ellie Sattler, a woman who studies ancient plants, to visit the park.
Along with a mathematician named Ian Malcolm and a lawyer named Donald Gennaro, they go to the park and see a few dinosaurs, like Brachiosaurus. John says that the dinosaurs were brought back because of the dinosaur DNA found in some mosquitoes. To fix any broken parts of the DNA, they added the DNA of frogs to the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were all made to be female so that they would not breed.
Lex and Tim Murphy, who are Hammond's grandkids, join the group. The group goes on a tour of the park in some Ford Explorer cars. A tropical storm heads towards the park, and it starts raining. Ellie is separated from the group when she tries to help a sick Triceratops. Dennis Nedry, a worker at the park, betrays Hammond so he can get money from another company, and he turns off the park's safety systems. The cars that the group are in aren't able to move anymore.
Many dinosaurs, including a T. rex, break out of their pens. The T. rex eats Donald, hurts Ian, and pushes a car off a cliff. As Dennis tries to escape the park, he gets killed by a Dilophosaurus.
Ellie, along with Robert Muldoon, a park worker, look for survivors. They rescue Malcolm and escape the T. rex in a Jeep. John, along with the park's main engineer named Ray Arnold, decide to reboot the park's systems. During the rebooting, the dangerous Velociraptors escape and start to wander the park.
When Ray goes missing, Ellie goes to finish the rebooting process. She finds that Ray has been killed, and she runs away from one raptor. Two of the raptors show up, and they surprise and kill Robert. Meanwhile, Alan, Lex, and Tim, spend the night in a tall tree. They make friends with a Brachiosaurus.
The next day, Alan, Lex, and Tim discover dinosaur eggs. At first, they are confused, since the dinosaurs are all female, and eggs can't be laid unless there is a male dinosaur involved. Alan figures out that the frog DNA in the dinosaur DNA allows the dinosaurs to change their genders.
They come across a group of running Gallimimus, and they head towards an electric fence. When the park's power turns back on, Tim gets shocked by the fence and gets hurt. As Alan goes to look for Ellie, Lex and Tim are hunted by the raptors in a kitchen. They escape and meet up with Alan and Ellie. All four of them end up cornered by the raptors in the park's atrium, but the T. rex arrives and kills the raptors.
John, Alan, Ellie, Ian, Lex, and Tim, all survive, and leave the park in a helicopter. John is disappointed that the park was unsuccessful, but Ellie is happy that Alan has learned to get along with kids.
Production
changeThe movie was based off a book by Michael Crichton. A few people wanted to be the director of the movie, like Tim Burton. Eventually, Steven Spielberg was chosen to direct.
Filming the movie started in 1992 on Kaua'i, an island in Hawaii. The filming was stopped for a day because Hurricane Iniki passed over the island. A few of the scenes in the movie that involve rain were actually filmed during the hurricane. Other scenes were filmed in California, on a stage at Warner Bros. Studios, and in other places in Hawaii.
At first, the dinosaurs were going to be made using stop-motion, but Spielberg didn't think it looked real enough. The dinosaurs in the movie were created using ways called animatronics and CGI. The dinosaurs were either robots, puppets, or made with computers.
After filming for the movie was over, Spielberg monitored the effects work while he was in the country of Poland, where he was filming another movie, Schindler's List.
The music that plays in the movie was composed by John Williams.
Release
changeJurassic Park got positive reviews, as many critics and moviegoers enjoyed it. Many people praised the movie's special effects and music. The movie was nominated for three Academy Awards (Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects), and won all three.
At the time, Jurassic Park had made more money than any other movie. However, the movie Titanic ended up making even more money, breaking the record.
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| 11 June 1993 | |
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| 11 March 1994 | |
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3-D version
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| 4 April 2013 | |
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Sequels
changeJurassic Park has five sequels: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park III (2001), Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and Jurassic World: Dominion (2022). Animated web series include: LEGO Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.
References
change- 1 2 3 4 "Jurassic Park (1993)". British Film Institute. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
- 1 2 3 "JURASSIC PARK (1993)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
- ↑ British Board of Film Classification (2013-08-23). "Jurassic Park". BBFC. Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-07.
Approved Running time 126m 30s
- ↑ "Jurassic Park (1993)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on July 27, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2025.
- ↑ "Jurassic Park (1993) – Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on February 4, 2007. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
- ↑ "Jurassic Park (1993) – Weekend Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on February 4, 2007. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
- ↑ "Jurassic Park (1993)". The Numbers. Retrieved June 12, 2025.