“Welcome to Jurassic Park!” Those words from Dr. John Hammond didn’t just announce to Dr. Alan Grant and Ellie Satler that they’d entered a new world of possibilities. It also ushered in a new age for cinematic possibilities for audiences and filmmakers worldwide. Jurassic Park was nothing short of a miracle movie and arguably Steven Spielberg’s most game-changing blockbuster. 1975’s Jaws may have invented the summer blockbuster, but few movies afterward were eager to replicate its erratic visual effects techniques (though they were eager to make other movies about animals tormenting people).
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Jurassic Park’s groundbreaking CG, meanwhile, was an immediate wake-up call to everyone around the globe that things would never be the same. Suddenly, concepts for movies or characters that were once impossible now had a shot at becoming a reality. Meanwhile, Jurassic Park also reaffirmed the enduring viability of dinosaurs in pop culture. The endless ways this classic influenced larger culture can be seen in just these seven examples of movies that wouldn’t have existed without that exhilarating vision of Jurassic Park.
1) The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Given that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were close friends and both came into their own as filmmakers in the 1970s, it’s no surprise that Jurassic Park had some influence on ambitious plans Lucas had stored up for a trilogy of Star Wars prequels. Specifically, Jurassic Park’s groundbreaking visual effects techniques proved to Lucas that his heightened ideas for the various worlds and storylines of the Prequel Trilogy could finally be realized. Six years after Jurassic Park, The Phantom Menace would hit theaters and further push the boundaries of digital effects filmmaking.
2) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Someone else eagerly eyeballing all the wonders accomplished by Jurassic Park was New Zealand auteur Peter Jackson. This filmmaker, then best known for over-the-top horror films hailing from his home country, was emboldened by what CG wizardry could accomplish. As the 90s progressed, Jackson would push forward on VFX-driven tentpoles that would eventually become some of the most lucrative films of the 2000s. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong were all spurred on by Jackson’s response to those digital dinos interacting with live-action humans and environments.
3) A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Given that Stanley Kubrick’s the man behind such profoundly influential projects like 2001: A Space Odyssey, it’s hard to imagine him being shaped by a rival movie. However, Jurassic Park made Kubrick realize his long-simmering passion project, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, could finally come to the big screen as the capability of visual effects had caught up to his imagination. To make things even connected, Kubrick eventually gave the project to Steven Spielberg, who released the film in 2001, two years after Kubrick’s death.
[RELATED: 7 Underrated Dinosaur Movies You’ve Probably Forgotten About]
4) Carnosaur
Like Jurassic Park, Carnosaur was based on a novel. Not only that, but the John Brosnan Carnosaur text came out seven years before Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park novel. However, The Dinosaur Filmography Book by Mark F. Berry claims that B-movie legend Roger Corman (who’d long owned film rights to the property) accelerated development of a Carnosaur feature once he knew Jurassic Park was on the horizon. The result was a B-movie that beat Park to theaters by one month, meaning Jurassic Park was influencing major movies before it even hit the silver screen.
5) Dinosaur
Various versions of Disney’s 2000 animated feature Dinosaur existed in development since the 1980s. However, the final version that hit theaters really started taking shape in 1994, a year after Jurassic Park solidified that CG dinosaurs could thrive on the silver screen. That timing suggests Steven Spielberg’s mammoth hit had a mighty hand in driving Disney to put more resources into this project. Meanwhile, Dinosaur’s commitment to blending CG dinos with live-action environment wouldn’t have been possible without Jurassic Park’s trailblazing visual effects.
6) We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story
Five months after Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg’s name was attached to another Universal Pictures dinosaur movie, albeit this time as just a producer. We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story hit theaters Thanksgiving 1993 with a marketing campaign fully existing in Jurassic Park’s shadow. Specifically, this film wanted to provide family moviegoers with their own dinosaur movie that wasn’t so frightening.
7) Godzilla (1998)
Much like Dinosaur, the 1998 Godzilla remake had many lives before Jurassic Park hit theaters. However, this Steven Spielberg hit underscored the urgency in getting big VFX-driven movies focused on eye-catching reptiles on the silver screen. More importantly, the eventual designs of Godzilla and her(?) brood were clearly based more on dinosaurs than anything in the original Toho features. Godzilla’s offspring especially looked like carbon copies of those Velociraptors that terrorized audiences in Jurassic Park. Though this box office sensation proved anything was possible in visual effects, titles like Godzilla opted to give audiences imagery that was all too familiar.
Jurassic Park is now streaming on Peacock.
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