Jurassic Park, later also referred to as Jurassic World, is an American science fiction media franchise. It focuses on the cloning of prehistoric animals (mainly non-avian dinosaurs) through ancient DNA extracted from mosquitoes that have been fossilized in amber. The franchise explores the ethics of cloning and genetic engineering and the morals behind de-extinction, commercialization of science, and animal cruelty.
The franchise began in 1990 with the release of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park. A 1993 film adaptation, also titled Jurassic Park, was directed by Steven Spielberg. Crichton then wrote a sequel novel, The Lost World (1995), and Spielberg directed its film adaptation, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). Additional films have been released since then, including Jurassic Park III in 2001, completing the original trilogy of films.
The fourth installment, Jurassic World, was released in 2015, marking the start of a new trilogy. Its sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, was released in 2018. Jurassic World Dominion, released in 2022, marks the conclusion of the second trilogy. A standalone sequel, Jurassic World Rebirth, was released in 2025. Two Jurassic World short films have also been released: Battle at Big Rock (2019) and a Jurassic World Dominion prologue (2021).
Theropod dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor have had major roles throughout the film series. Other species, including Brachiosaurus and Spinosaurus, have also played significant roles. The series has also featured other creatures, such as Mosasaurus and members of the pterosaur group, both commonly misidentified by the public as dinosaurs. The various creatures in the films were created through a combination of animatronics and computer-generated imagery (CGI). For the first three films, the animatronics were created by special-effects artist Stan Winston and his team, while Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) handled the CGI for the entire series. The first film garnered critical acclaim for its innovations in CGI technology and animatronics. Since Winston's death in 2008, the practical dinosaurs have been created by other artists, including Legacy Effects (Jurassic World), Neal Scanlan (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), and John Nolan (Jurassic World Dominion and Jurassic World Rebirth).
Paleontologist Jack Horner has served as the longtime scientific advisor on the films, and paleontologist Stephen L. Brusatte was also consulted for Jurassic World Dominion and Jurassic World Rebirth. The original film was praised for its modern portrayal of dinosaurs. Horner said that it still contained many inaccuracies, such as not portraying dinosaurs as having colorful feathers, but noted that it was not meant as a documentary. Later films in the series contain inaccuracies as well, for entertainment purposes. This includes the films' velociraptors, which are depicted as being larger than their real-life counterparts. In addition, the franchise's method for cloning dinosaurs has been deemed scientifically implausible for a number of reasons.
On-screen portrayals The various creatures in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films were created through a combination of animatronics and computer-generated imagery (CGI). For each film, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) has handled dinosaur scenes that required CGI. The company has studied large animals such as elephants and rhinos, for reference in designing the digital dinosaurs.
Jurassic Park films (1993–2001) For the original 1993 film Jurassic Park, director Steven Spielberg wanted to use practical dinosaurs as much as possible. He chose special-effects artist Stan Winston to create animatronic dinosaurs for the film, after seeing his work on the Queen Alien in the 1986 film Aliens. Winston said the Queen was easy compared to a dinosaur animatronic: "The queen was exoskeletal, so all of its surfaces were hard. There were no muscles, no flesh, and there was no real weight to it. The alien queen also didn't have to look like a real, organic animal because it was a fictional character -- so there was nothing in real life to compare it to. There was just no comparison in the difficulty level of building that alien queen and building a full-size dinosaur". Winston's team spent much time perfecting the animatronics, which used metal skeletons powered by electric motors. They molded latex skin that was then fitted over the robotic models, forming the exterior appearance. Up to 20 puppeteers were required to operate some of the dinosaurs. After filming concluded, most of the animatronics were disassembled.
For certain scenes, Spielberg had considered using go motion dinosaurs created by visual-effects artist Phil Tippett. Spielberg was disappointed with the results and opted for ILM's digital dinosaurs instead, although Tippett and his team of animators remained with the project to supervise the dinosaur movements. Tippett and ILM worked together to create the Dinosaur Input Device (DID), a robot shaped like a dinosaur skeleton. The DID included an array of sensors that captured various poses, which were then transferred into graphics software at ILM. Animatics and storyboards by Tippett were also used by the film crew as reference for action sequences. ILM based their CGI dinosaurs on Winston's models. Herds of dinosaurs were created through computer animation, using duplicate individuals which were slightly altered to give the illusion of multiple animals. The 127-minute film has 15 minutes of total screen time for the dinosaurs, including nine minutes of animatronics and six minutes of CGI animals. Jurassic Park received critical acclaim for its innovations in CGI technology and animatronics. Among adults, the film generated an interest in dinosaurs, and it increased interest in the field of paleontology.
Winston and his team returned for the 1997 sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, although the film relied more on CGI by ILM. The film features 75 computer-generated shots. While the first film showed that dinosaurs could be adequately recreated through special effects, the sequel raised the question of what could be done with the animals. Winston said, "I wanted to show the world what they didn't see in 'Jurassic Park': more dinosaurs and more dinosaur action. 'More, bigger, better' was our motto". Technology had not advanced much since the first film, although director Spielberg said that "the artistry of the creative computer people" had advanced: "There's better detail, much better lighting, better muscle tone and movement in the animals. When a dinosaur transfers weight from his left side to his right, the whole movement of fat and sinew is smoother, more physiologically correct". Besides animatronics, Winston's team also painted maquettes of dinosaurs that would subsequently be created through CGI.
Spielberg served as executive producer for each subsequent film. ILM and Winston returned for the 2001 film Jurassic Park III, directed by Joe Johnston. Winston's animatronics were more advanced than those used in previous films; they included the ability to blink, adding to the sense of realism. Animatronics were used for close-up shots. Winston's team took approximately 13 months to design and create the practical dinosaurs. The team also created dinosaur sculptures, which were then scanned by ILM to create the computer-generated versions of the animals.
Jurassic World films (2015–present) Winston planned to return for a fourth film, which was ultimately released in 2015 as Jurassic World. Winston, who had been planning more-advanced special effects for the project, died in 2008 before the start of filming. Legacy Effects, founded by former members of Stan Winston Studios, provided an animatronic dinosaur for Jurassic World. Otherwise, the film's creatures were largely created through CGI, provided by ILM and Image Engine. New technology, such as subsurface scattering, allowed for greater detail in the creatures' skin and muscle tissue. According to Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, the film's animals were created from scratch because "technology has changed so much that everything is a rebuild". Some of the computer-generated creatures were created with motion capture, using human actors to perform the animals' movements. Jurassic World was the first dinosaur film to use motion capture technology. Trevorrow included several dinosaurs in the film that he had always felt were deserving of a prominent scene: "I didn't want to just throw the kitchen sink at it. Each of these movies has done a good job at just very carefully, in a measured way, increasing the new dinosaurs that you see".
ILM returned for the 2018 sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which featured animatronics by special-effects artist Neal Scanlan. The film has more dinosaurs than any previous film, including several new ones not seen before. Fallen Kingdom also has more animatronic dinosaurs than any previous sequel, and the animatronics were more advanced than in previous films. Fallen Kingdom director J.A. Bayona said animatronics "are very helpful on set, especially for the actors so they have something to perform against. There's an extra excitement if they can act in front of something real".
Five animatronic dinosaurs were created for Fallen Kingdom, which features close interaction between humans and dinosaurs. Scanlan and his team of 35 people spent more than eight months working on the dinosaurs. Scanlan said animatronics were not best for every scene: "In some ways it will have an impact on your shooting schedule; you have to take time to film with an animatronic. In the balance, we ask ourselves if it is economically and artistically more valuable to do it that way, or as a post-production effect". Unlike the previous film, ILM determined that motion capture technology would not be adequate for depicting the dinosaurs in Fallen Kingdom.
The 2019 Jurassic World short film, Battle at Big Rock, utilized CGI and reference maquettes by ILM, and an animatronic by Legacy Effects.
Trevorrow returned as director for the 2022 film Jurassic World Dominion, which used more animatronics than the previous Jurassic World films. Approximately 18 animatronics of varying sizes were created, by John Nolan. The dinosaurs were designed by production designer Kevin Jenkins, who created miniature clay maquettes that were then scanned by ILM, which made alterations before sending the digital models to Nolan for 3D printing. In a departure from previous films, the dinosaurs were made of recyclable materials. ILM created 900 CGI dinosaur shots for Dominion, and also produced various CGI dinosaurs for the film's five-minute prologue, released in 2021.
The 2025 film Jurassic World Rebirth, directed by Gareth Edwards, had a limited pre-production period compared with previous installments. As a result, ILM had only six weeks to finalize new dinosaur designs. The limited production time meant that animatronics could not be heavily utilized, although on-set materials were still used to aid the actors. Nolan returned to create practical dinosaur parts, including heads and claws. These were then replaced with CGI during post-production, as Edwards wanted to maintain consistency on the dinosaur designs by avoiding an on-screen combination of production methods.
Scientific accuracy Premise