Synopsis

A group of scientists and visitors are invited to preview a remote island theme park populated by genetically recreated dinosaurs. When a security failure disables the park's systems, the supposedly controlled attractions escape into the wilderness. The visitors must find a way off the island while avoiding a Tyrannosaurus rex, velociraptors, and other prehistoric predators.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film combines full-scale practical creatures from Stan Winston's team with digital dinosaurs created by Industrial Light & Magic. ILM produced fewer than 60 shots featuring fully computer-generated dinosaurs, making each one especially significant.

• ILM describes the project as the first major film to use its commercial 3-D animation package. The digital tests of dinosaurs moving naturally convinced the filmmakers that computer animation could work alongside physical effects.

• Filming began in Kauai, Hawaii, on August 24, 1992. Location work was disrupted by Hurricane Iniki in September, and additional filming took place in California.

• While Jurassic Park was in post-production, Spielberg was in Poland making Schindler's List. He supervised the dinosaur film's finishing work remotely during that production.

• The film won three Academy Awards for its 1993 release: Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects.

• The sound team created the dinosaur vocalizations from a mixture of animal recordings rather than relying on a single source. The result became one of the film's most recognizable technical achievements.

• Jurassic Park helped establish computer-generated creatures as a central feature of live-action filmmaking, marking a major transition from traditional stop-motion effects to digital character animation.