Jurassic Park (film)

Michael Crichton's book attracted the attention of director Steven Spielberg even before it was published. The author was also responsible for the film's first scripts.

Michael Crichton originally conceived a screenplay about a graduate student who recreates a dinosaur. He continued to wrestle with his fascination with dinosaurs and cloning until he began writing the novel Jurassic Park.[4] Before its publication, Steven Spielberg learned of the novel in October 1989, while he was discussing a screenplay with Crichton that would become the television series ER.[5] Spielberg recognized what really fascinated him about Jurassic Park was it was "a really credible look at how dinosaurs might someday be brought back alongside modern mankind", going beyond a simple monster movie.[6]

Before the book was published, Crichton had demanded a non-negotiable fee of $1.5 million for the film rights and a substantial percentage of the gross. Warner Bros. and Tim Burton, Columbia Pictures and Richard Donner, and 20th Century Fox and Joe Dante bid for the rights,[5] but Universal Studios eventually acquired them in May 1990 for Spielberg.[7] After completing Hook, Spielberg wanted to film Schindler's List. Sid Sheinberg, president of Music Corporation of America (Universal Pictures's parent company at the time) gave the green light to Schindler's List on the condition Spielberg make Jurassic Park first.[5] He said later by choosing a creature-driven thriller, "I was really just trying to make a good sequel to Jaws, on land."[8] Spielberg also cited Godzilla as an inspiration for Jurassic Park, specifically Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956), which he grew up watching.[9] During production, Spielberg described Godzilla as "the most masterful of all the dinosaur movies because it made you believe it was really happening."[10]

To create the dinosaurs, Spielberg thought of hiring Bob Gurr, who designed a giant mechanical King Kong for Universal Studios Hollywood's King Kong Encounter. Upon reflection, he felt life-sized dinosaurs would be too expensive and not at all convincing. Instead Spielberg sought the best effects supervisors in Hollywood. He brought in Stan Winston to create the animatronic dinosaurs; Phil Tippett (credited as Dinosaur Supervisor) to create go motion dinosaurs for long shots; Michael Lantieri to supervise the on-set effects; and Dennis Muren of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to do the digital compositing. Paleontologist Jack Horner supervised the designs,[11] to help fulfill Spielberg's desire to portray the dinosaurs as animals rather than monsters. Certain concepts about dinosaurs, like the theory they evolved into birds and had very little in common with lizards, were followed. This prompted the removal of the raptors' flicking tongues in Tippett's early animatics,[12] as Horner complained it was implausible.[13] Winston's department created fully detailed models of the dinosaurs before molding latex skins, which were fitted over complex robotics. Tippett created stop-motion animatics of the raptors in the kitchen and the Tyrannosaurus attacking the car. Despite go motion's attempts at motion blurs, Spielberg found the end results unsatisfactory for a live-action feature film. Muren told Spielberg he thought the dinosaurs could be built using computer-generated imagery; the director asked him to prove it.[12] ILM animators Mark Dippé and Steve Williams developed a computer-generated walk cycle for the T. rex skeleton and were approved to do more.[14] When Spielberg and Tippett saw an animatic of the T. rex chasing a herd of Gallimimus, Spielberg said, "You're out of a job," to which Tippett replied, "Don't you mean extinct?"[12] Spielberg later injected this exchange into the script, as a conversation between Malcolm and Grant.[15] Although no go motion was used, Tippett and his animators were still used by the production to supervise dinosaur movement. Tippett acted as a consultant for dinosaur anatomy, and his stop motion animators were re-trained as computer animators.[12] The animatics made by Tippett's team were also used, along with the storyboards, as a reference for what would be shot during the action sequences.[16] ILM's artists were sent on private tours to the local animal park, so they could study large animals — rhinos, elephants, alligators, and giraffes — up close. They also took mime classes to aid in understanding movements.[17]

1917 skeletal diagram of Tyrannosaurus published by Henry Fairfield Osborn, which was the basis of the novel's cover, and subsequently the logo of the movies[18]

Universal paid Crichton a further $500,000 to adapt his own novel,[19] which he had finished by the time Spielberg was filming Hook. Crichton noted that because the book was "fairly long" his script had about 10 to 20 percent of the novel's content; scenes were dropped for budgetary and practical reasons, and the violence was toned down.[20] Malia Scotch Marmo began a script rewrite in October 1991 over a five-month period, merging Ian Malcolm with Alan Grant.[21]

Spielberg wanted another writer to rework the script, so Universal president Casey Silver recommended David Koepp, co-writer of Death Becomes Her.[22] Koepp started afresh from Marmo's draft, and used Spielberg's idea of a cartoon shown to the visitors to remove much of the exposition that fills Crichton's novel.[23] While Koepp tried to avoid excessive character detail "because whenever they started talking about their personal lives, you couldn't care less",[24] he tried to flesh out the characters and make for a more colorful cast, with moments such as Malcolm flirting with Sattler leading to Grant's jealousy.[6] Some characterizations were changed from the novel. Hammond went from being a ruthless businessman to a kindly old man, because Spielberg identified with Hammond's obsession with showmanship.[25] He also switched the characters of Tim and Lex; in the book, Tim is aged eleven and interested in computers, and Lex is only seven or eight and interested in sports. Spielberg did this because he wanted to work with the younger Joseph Mazzello, and it allowed him to introduce the sub-plot of Lex's adolescent crush on Grant.[26] Koepp changed Grant's relationship with the children, making him hostile to them initially to allow for more character development.[5]

Two scenes from the book were ultimately excised. Spielberg removed the opening sequence with Procompsognathus attacking a young child as he found it too horrific.[27] For budgetary reasons Koepp cut the T. rex chasing Grant and the children down a river before being tranquilized by Muldoon. Both parts were included in film sequels.[23] Spielberg suggested adding the scene where the T. rex pursues a jeep, which at first only had the characters driving away after hearing the dinosaur's footsteps.[28]

William Hurt was initially offered the role of Alan Grant, but turned it down without reading the script.[29] Harrison Ford was also offered the role of Grant.[30] Sam Neill was ultimately cast as Grant three or four weeks before filming began. Neill said "it all happened real quick. I hadn't read the book, knew nothing about it, hadn't heard anything about it, and in a matter of weeks I'm working with Spielberg."[31] Janet Hirshenson, the film's casting director, felt Jeff Goldblum would be the right choice to play Ian Malcolm after reading the novel. Jim Carrey also auditioned for the role. According to Hirshenson, Carrey "was terrific, too, but I think pretty quickly we all loved the idea of Jeff."[31]

Cameron Thor had previously worked with Spielberg on Hook, and initially auditioned for the role of Malcolm, before trying out for the role of Dodgson. In the film, Dodgson gives Nedry a container disguised as a can of shaving cream that is used to transport the embryos. Thor said about casting, "It just said 'shaving-cream can' in the script, so I spent endless time in a drug store to find the most photogenic. I went with Barbasol, which ended up in the movie. I was so broke that I took the can home after the audition to use it."[32] Laura Dern was Spielberg's first choice for the role of Ellie Sattler[31] though she was not the only actress offered the part. Robin Wright turned down the role.[33] Spielberg chose to cast Wayne Knight after seeing his acting performance in Basic Instinct, saying, "I waited for the credits to roll and wrote his name down."[34][35]

Ariana Richards who plays Lex Murphy, said, "I was called into a casting office, and they just wanted me to scream. I heard later on that Steven had watched a few girls on tape that day, and I was the only one who ended up waking his sleeping wife on the couch, and she came running through the hallway to see if the kids were all right."[31] Christina Ricci also auditioned for the role.[36] Joseph Mazzello had screen-tested for a role in Hook, but was deemed too young. Spielberg promised him they would work together on a future film.[31]

Replica of the Ford Explorers featured in the film at Universal Studios Japan.

After 25 months of pre-production, filming began on August 24, 1992, on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi.[37] While Costa Rica was considered as a location given it is the novel's setting, Spielberg's concerns over infrastructure and accessibility made him choose a place where he had already worked.[6] The three-week shoot involved various daytime exteriors for Isla Nublar's forests.[7] On September 11, Hurricane Iniki passed directly over Kauaʻi costing a day of shooting.[38] Several of the storm scenes from the movie are actual footage shot during the hurricane. The scheduled shoot of the Gallimimus chase was moved to Kualoa Ranch on the island of Oahu. One of the early scenes had to be created by digitally animating a still shot of scenery.[15] The opening scene was shot in Haiku, on the island of Maui,[39] with additional scenes filmed on the "forbidden island" of Niihau.[40] The exterior of the Visitor Center was a large façade constructed on the grounds of the Valley House Plantation Estate in Kauai.[41] Samuel L. Jackson was to film a lengthy death scene where his character is chased and killed by raptors, but the set was destroyed by Hurricane Iniki.[32]

By mid-September, the crew moved to California,[12] to shoot the raptors in the kitchen at Stage 24 of the Universal studio lot.[7] Given the kitchen set was filled with reflective surfaces, cinematographer Dean Cundey had to carefully plan the illumination while also using black cloths to hide the light reflections.[16] The crew also shot the scenes involving the power supply on Stage 23, before going on location to Red Rock Canyon for the Montana dig scenes.[42] The crew returned to Universal to shoot Grant's rescue of Tim, using a fifty-foot prop with hydraulic wheels for the car fall, and the Brachiosaurus encounter. The crew filmed scenes for the Park's labs and control room, which used animations for the computers lent by Silicon Graphics and Apple.[43] While Crichton's book features Toyota cars in Jurassic Park, Spielberg made a deal with the Ford Motor Company, who provided seven Ford Explorers.[44][45] The Explorers were modified by ILM's crew and veteran customizer George Barris to create the illusion they were autonomous cars by hiding the driver in the car's trunk.[46] Barris also customized the Jeep Wranglers featured in the production.[47]

Over fifteen percent of the film was shot in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, both at the Amber Museum and Mount Isabela de Torres. The crew moved to Warner Bros. Studios' Stage 16 to shoot the T. rex's attack on the LSX powered SUVs.[43] Shooting proved frustrating because when water soaked the foam rubber skin of the animatronic dinosaur, it caused the T. rex to shake and quiver from the extra weight when the foam absorbed it. This forced Stan Winston's crew to dry the model with shammys between takes.[48] On the set, Malcolm distracting the dinosaur with a flare was included at Jeff Goldblum's suggestion. He felt a heroic action was better than going by the script, where like Gennaro, Malcolm was scared and ran away.[16] The ripples in the glass of water caused by the T. rex's footsteps were inspired by Spielberg listening to Earth, Wind and Fire in his car, and the vibrations the bass rhythm caused. Lantieri was unsure how to create the shot until the night before filming when he put a glass of water on a guitar he was playing, which achieved the concentric circles in the water Spielberg wanted. The next morning, guitar strings were put inside the car and a man on the floor plucked them to achieve the effect.[49] Back at Universal, the crew filmed scenes with the Dilophosaurus on Stage 27. Finally, the shoot finished on Stage 12, with the climactic chases with the raptors in the Park's computer rooms and Visitor's Center.[50] Spielberg changed the climax to bring back the T. rex, abandoning the original ending where Grant uses a platform machine to maneuver a raptor into a fossil tyrannosaur's jaws.[51] The scene, which already included the juxtaposition of live dinosaurs in a museum filled with fossils, while also destroying the bones, now had an ending where the T. rex saved the protagonists, and afterwards made what Spielberg described as a "King Kong roar" while an ironic banner reading "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" flew.[16] The film wrapped twelve days ahead of schedule on November 30,[52] and within days, editor Michael Kahn had a rough cut ready, allowing Spielberg to go ahead with filming Schindler's List.[53]

The life-sized animatronic Tyrannosaurus rex on the set. It is the largest sculpture ever made by Stan Winston Studio.[54]

Despite the title of the film's referencing the Jurassic period, Brachiosaurus and Dilophosaurus are the only dinosaurs featured that actually lived during that time; the other species featured did not exist until the Cretaceous period.[55] This is acknowledged in the film during a scene where Dr. Grant describes the ferocity of the Velociraptor to a young boy, saying: "Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous period ..."[56]

• Alamosaurus appears as a skeleton in the Jurassic Park visitor center.[57]
• Brachiosaurus is the first dinosaur seen by the park's visitors. It is inaccurately depicted as chewing its food and standing up on its hind legs to browse among the high tree branches.[58] According to artist Andy Schoneberg, the chewing was done to make the animal seem docile, resembling a cow chewing its cud. The dinosaur's head and upper neck was the largest puppet without hydraulics built for the film.[59] Despite scientific evidence of their having limited vocal capabilities, sound designer Gary Rydstrom decided to represent them with whale songs and donkey calls to give them a melodic sense of wonder. Penguins were also recorded to be used in the noises of the dinosaurs.[58]
• Dilophosaurus was also very different from its real-life counterpart, made significantly smaller to ensure audiences did not confuse it with the raptors.[60] Its neck frill and its ability to spit venom are fictitious. Its vocal sounds were made by combining a swan, a hawk, a howler monkey, and a rattlesnake.[12] The animatronic model, nicknamed "Spitter" by Stan Winston's team, was animated by the puppeteers sitting on a trench in the set floor, using a paintball mechanism to spit the mixture of methacyl and K-Y Jelly that served as venom.[61]
• Gallimimus are featured in a stampede scene where one of them is devoured by the Tyrannosaurus. The Gallimimus was the first dinosaur to be digitized, being featured in two ILM tests, first as a herd of skeletons and then fully skinned while pursued by the T. rex.[12] Its design was based on ostriches, and to emphasize the birdlike qualities, the animation focused mostly on the herd rather than individual animals.[62] As reference for the dinosaurs' run, the animators were filmed running at the ILM parking lot, with plastic pipes standing in as the tree that the Gallimimus jump over.[63] The footage inspired the incorporation of an animal falling as one of the artists did trying to make the jump.[17] Horse squeals became the Gallimimus's sounds.[64]
• Parasaurolophus appear in the background during the first encounter with the Brachiosaurus.[65]
• Triceratops has an extended cameo, depicted as sick with an unidentified disease. Its appearance was a logistical nightmare for Stan Winston when Spielberg asked to shoot the animatronic of the sick creature earlier than expected.[66] The model, operated by eight puppeteers in the Kaua'i set, wound up being the first dinosaur filmed during production.[6] Winston also created a baby Triceratops for Ariana Richards to ride on, a scene ultimately cut from the film for pacing reasons.[67] Gary Rydstrom combined the sound of himself breathing into a cardboard tube with the cows near his workplace at Skywalker Ranch to create the Triceratops vocals.[64]
• Tyrannosaurus was acknowledged by Spielberg as "the star of the movie", and he rewrote the ending to feature the T. rex for fear of disappointing the audience.[12] Winston's animatronic T. rex stood 6.1 metres (20 ft), weighed 17,500 pounds (7,900 kg),[43] and was 12 metres (40 ft) long.[68] Jack Horner called it "the closest I've ever been to a live dinosaur".[68] While the consulting paleontologists did not agree on the dinosaur's movement, particularly its running capabilities, animator Steve Williams decided to "throw physics out the window and create a T. rex that moved at sixty miles per hour even though its hollow bones would have busted if it ran that fast".[69] The major reason was the T. rex chasing a Jeep, a scene that took two months to finish.[58] The dinosaur is depicted with a vision system based on movement, though later studies indicated the T. rex had binocular vision comparable to a bird of prey.[70] Its roar is a baby elephant mixed with a tiger and an alligator, and its breath is a whale's blow.[58] A dog attacking a rope toy was used for the sounds of the T. rex tearing a Gallimimus apart,[12] while cut sequoias crashing to the ground became the sound of the dinosaur's footsteps.[16]
• Velociraptor plays a major role in the film. The creature's depiction is ultimately not based on the actual dinosaur genus in question, which was also significantly smaller. Shortly before Jurassic Park's theatrical release,[71] the similar Utahraptor was discovered, although it proved to be even bigger in appearance than the film's raptors. This prompted Stan Winston to joke, "We made it, then they discovered it."[68] For the attack on character Robert Muldoon and some parts of the kitchen scene, the raptors were played by men in suits.[50] Dolphin screams, walruses bellowing, geese hissing,[12] an African crane's mating call, tortoises mating, and human rasps were mixed to formulate various raptor sounds.[58][64] Following discoveries made after the film's release, most paleontologists theorize that dromaeosaurs like Velociraptor and Deinonychus were fully covered with feathers like modern birds. This feature is included only in Jurassic Park III for the male raptors, who are shown with a row of small quills on their heads.[72]

"Dinosaur Input Device" raptor used for the film.

Special effects work continued on the film, with Tippett's unit adjusting to new technology with Dinosaur Input Devices:[73] models which fed information into computers to allow them to animate the characters like stop motion puppets. In addition, they acted out scenes with the raptors and Gallimimus. As well as the computer-generated dinosaurs, ILM also created elements such as water splashing and digital face replacement for Ariana Richards' stunt double.[12] Compositing the dinosaurs onto the live action scenes took around an hour. Rendering the dinosaurs often took two to four hours per frame, and rendering the T. rex in the rain took six hours per frame.[74] Spielberg monitored their progress from Poland during the filming of Schindler's List,[75] and had teleconferences four times a week with ILM's crew. The director described working simultaneously in two vastly different productions as "a bipolar experience", where he used "every ounce of intuition on Schindler's List and every ounce of craft on Jurassic Park".[63]

Along with the digital effects, Spielberg wanted the film to be the first with digital sound. He funded the creation of DTS (digital theater system), which allows audiences to "really hear the movie the way it was intended to be heard".[63] The sound effects crew, supervised by George Lucas,[76] were finished by the end of April.[58] Sound designer Gary Rydstrom considered it a fun process, given the film had all kinds of noise—animal sounds, rain, gunshots, car crashes—and at times no music. During the process, Spielberg would take the weekends to fly from Poland to Paris, where he would meet Rydstrom to see the sound progress.[63] Jurassic Park was finally completed on May 28, 1993.[58]

Composer John Williams began scoring the film at the end of February, and it was recorded a month later. John Neufeld and Alexander Courage provided the score's orchestrations.[58] Like Close Encounters of the Third Kind another Spielberg film he scored, Williams felt he needed to write "pieces that would convey a sense of 'awe' and fascination" given it dealt with the "overwhelming happiness and excitement" that would emerge from seeing live dinosaurs. In turn more suspenseful scenes such as the Tyrannosaurus attack required frightening themes.[77] The first soundtrack album was released on May 25, 1993.[78] For the 20th anniversary of the film's release, a new soundtrack was issued for digital download on April 9, 2013, including four bonus tracks personally selected by Williams.[79]

In anticipation of the Blu-ray release, Jurassic Park had a digital print released in UK cinemas on September 23, 2011.[95] It wound up grossing £245,422 ($786,021) from 276 theaters, finishing at eleventh on the weekend box office list.[96]

Two years later, on the 20th anniversary of Jurassic Park, a 3D version of the film was released in cinemas.[97] Spielberg declared that he had produced the film with a sort of "subconscious 3D", as scenes feature animals walking toward the cameras and some effects of foreground and background overlay.[98] In 2011, he stated in an interview that Jurassic Park was the only one of his works he had considered for a conversion.[99] Once he saw the 3D version of Titanic in 2012, he liked the new look of the film so much that he hired the same retrofitting company, Stereo D. Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kamiński closely supervised the nine-month process in-between the production of Lincoln.[98][100] Stereo D executive Aaron Parry said the conversion was an evolution of what the company had done with Titanic, "being able to capitalize on everything we learned with Jim on Titanic and take it into a different genre and movie, and one with so many technical achievements." The studio had the help of ILM, which contributed some elements and updated effects shots for a better visual enhancement.[101] It opened in the United States and seven other territories on April 5, 2013,[102] with other countries receiving the re-release over the following six months.[103] In 2018, the film was re-released in select theaters to celebrate its 25th anniversary.[104]

The film made its VHS and LaserDisc debut on October 4, 1994.[105] With 17 million units sold in both formats,[106] Jurassic Park is the fifth best-selling VHS tape ever.[107]

Jurassic Park was first released on a Collector's Edition DVD on October 10, 2000, in both widescreen and full screen versions, and as part of a box set with the sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park and both movies' soundtrack albums.[108][109] It was the 13th best-selling DVD of 2000 counting both versions, finishing the year with 910,000 units sold.[110] Following the release of Jurassic Park III, a new box set with all the films called Jurassic Park Trilogy was released on December 11, 2001; it was re-released on VHS and DVD as part of its 15th anniversary on October 8, 2004.[111] It was repackaged as Jurassic Park Adventure Pack on November 29, 2005.[112]

The trilogy was released on Blu-ray on October 25, 2011,[113] debuting at number five on the Blu-ray charts,[114] and nominated as the best release of the year by both the Las Vegas Film Critics Society[115] and the Saturn Awards.[116] In 2012, Jurassic Park was among twenty-five films chosen by Universal for a box set celebrating the studio's 100th anniversary,[117] while also receiving a standalone 100th anniversary Blu-ray featuring an augmented reality cover.[118] The following year, the 20th anniversary 3D conversion was issued on Blu-ray 3D.[119]

On June 1, 2016, Jurassic Park, along with its sequels The Lost World and Jurassic Park III, were added to the Netflix streaming service.[120][121]

The film, alongside The Lost World, Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World, was released as part of a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray box set on May 22, 2018, in honor of the original film's 25th anniversary.[122]

Jurassic Park became the highest-grossing film released worldwide up to that time.[123] Following $3.1 million from midnight screenings on June 10, the film earned $47 million in its first weekend, with the $50.1 million total breaking the opening weekend record set by Batman Returns the year before.[90] By the end of its first week, Jurassic Park had grossed $81.7 million,[124] and remained at number one for three weeks. It eventually grossed $357 million in the U.S. and Canada.[125] Box Office Mojo estimates the film sold over 86.2 million tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run.[126] The film also did very well in international markets, breaking opening records in the United Kingdom, Japan, India, South Korea, Mexico, and Taiwan,[127] and becoming the first film to gross $500 million overseas,[128] ultimately earning $914 million worldwide,[2] with Spielberg reportedly making over $250 million from the film.[129] It surpassed Spielberg's own E.T. the Extraterrestrial as the highest-grossing film ever, and became second behind E.T. in the United States and Canada.[130] Jurassic Park's record was surpassed in 1998 by Titanic, the first film to gross over $1 billion.[131]

The 3D re-release of Jurassic Park opened at fourth place in North America, with $18.6 million from 2,771 locations. IMAX showings accounted for over $6 million, with the 32 percent being the highest IMAX share ever for a nationwide release.[132] The international release had its most successful weekend in the last week of August, when it managed to climb to the top of the overseas box office with a $28.8 million debut in China.[133] The reissue earned $45,385,935 in North America and $44,500,000 internationally as of August 2013,[134] leading to a lifetime gross of $402,453,882 in North America and $628,723,171 overseas, for a worldwide gross of $1,029,939,903, making Jurassic Park the 17th film to surpass the $1 billion mark.[135] It was the only Universal Pictures film to surpass the $1 billion mark until 2015, when the studio had three such films, Furious 7, Minions, and the fourth installment of the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World.[136] The film earned an additional $374,238 in 2018 for its 25th anniversary re-release.[137] It currently ranks as the 29th highest-grossing film of all time in North America (not adjusted for inflation), the highest-grossing film of 1993 and the twenty-eighth highest-grossing film of all time.[2]

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively gave the film a "Certified Fresh" rating of 91%, based on 125 reviews, with a rating average score of 8.31/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Jurassic Park is a spectacle of special effects and life-like animatronics, with some of Spielberg's best sequences of sustained awe and sheer terror since Jaws."[138] Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[139] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[140]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it "a true movie milestone, presenting awe- and fear-inspiring sights never before seen on the screen [...] On paper, this story is tailor-made for Mr. Spielberg's talents [but] [i]t becomes less crisp on screen than it was on the page, with much of the enjoyable jargon either mumbled confusingly or otherwise thrown away."[141] In Rolling Stone, Peter Travers described the film as "colossal entertainment—the eye-popping, mind-bending, kick-out-the-jams thrill ride of summer and probably the year [...] Compared with the dinos, the characters are dry bones, indeed. Crichton and co-screenwriter David Koepp have flattened them into nonentities on the trip from page to screen."[142] Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "The movie delivers all too well on its promise to show us dinosaurs. We see them early and often, and they are indeed a triumph of special effects artistry, but the movie is lacking other qualities that it needs even more, such as a sense of awe and wonderment, and strong human story values."[143] Henry Sheehan argued, "The complaints over Jurassic Park's lack of story and character sound a little off the point," pointing out the story arc of Grant learning to protect Hammond's grandchildren despite his initial dislike of them.[25] Empire magazine gave the film five stars, hailing it as "quite simply one of the greatest blockbusters of all time."[144]

In March 1994, Jurassic Park won all three Academy Awards for which it was nominated: Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects (at the same ceremony, Spielberg, editor Michael Kahn, and composer John Williams won Academy Awards for Schindler's List). The film won honors outside the U.S. including the 1994 BAFTA for Best Special Effects, as well as the Award for the Public's Favorite Film.[145] It won the 1994 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation,[146] and the 1993 Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction, Best Writing for Crichton and Koepp and Best Special Effects.[147] The film won the 1993 People's Choice Awards for Favorite All-Around Motion Picture.[148] Young Artist Awards were given to Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello, with the film winning an Outstanding Action/Adventure Family Motion Picture award.[149] In 2001, the American Film Institute ranked Jurassic Park as the 35th most thrilling film of American cinema.[150] The film is included in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die,[151] film lists by Empire magazine,[152] and The Guardian.[153]

After the enormous success of the film, Spielberg asked Crichton to write a sequel novel, leading to the 1995 book The Lost World.[185] This, in turn, was adapted as the film The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Released in May 1997, it was directed by Spielberg and written by David Koepp.[186] Another film, Jurassic Park III, was released in July 2001, under the direction of Joe Johnston, with Spielberg as executive producer. It featured an original script that incorporated unused elements from Crichton's original Jurassic Park.[187] A fourth installment, Jurassic World, was released in theaters in June 2015. Spielberg again produced, with Colin Trevorrow directing a script he wrote with Derek Connolly.[188] Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the fifth film in the franchise, was released in June 2018, with Spielberg as producer once more and J. A. Bayona as director.[189] A sixth film, Jurassic World: Dominion, will be directed by Trevorrow and is scheduled for release in June 2021.[190]

The story of the film was continued in auxiliary media, at times even unattached to the film sequels themselves. These included a series of Jurassic Park comic books written by Steve Englehart for Topps Comics,[191] and video games such as Ocean Software's Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues (1994), Vivendi's Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (2003) and Telltale Games' Jurassic Park: The Game (2011).[81]

All of the Universal Parks & Resorts include a Jurassic Park-themed ride. The first was Jurassic Park: The Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood on June 15, 1996, built after six years of development at a cost of $110 million.[192] This attraction was replicated by Universal Studios Japan in 2001.[193] Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, has an entire section of the park dedicated to Jurassic Park that includes the main ride, christened "Jurassic Park River Adventure", and many smaller rides and attractions based on the series.[194][195] At Universal Studios Singapore, opened in 2010, the Themed Zone named "The Lost World" consists mostly of Jurassic Park rides, such as the roller coaster Canopy Flyer and the river rapids Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure.[196]