49 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Jurassic Park Franchise

As of 2000, the Jurassic Park franchise had generated over $5 billion in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. So since we’re all waiting for its 2021 release, Jurassic World: Dominion, what better way to kill time than taking a look at some of the lesser-known facts about the franchise.

From malfunctioning T. Rexes to incredible attention to detail, here’s a list of eye-opening Jurassic Park trivia that reveals the production in a whole new light. So unleash your inner geek, continue scrolling, and enjoy!

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#1 In Jurassic Park (1993), The Insect Trapped In Amber (Copal) Is An Elephant Mosquito, The Only Mosquito That Doesn’t Suck Blood; Therefore, It Couldn’t Contain Any Dino Dna.

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#2 In Jurassic Park When The T. Rex Comes Through The Glass Roof Of The Van In The First Attack, The Glass Was Not Meant To Break. It’s No Wonder Those Kids’ Screams Sounded So Genuine

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#3 The Tyrannosaurus’s Roars Were A Combination Of Dog, Penguin, Tiger, Alligator, And Elephant Sounds.

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#4 The T-Rex In Jurassic World Is The Same T-Rex From Jurassic Park

We can see this from its scars on its neck where the velociraptors attacked it in Jurassic Park

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#5 T. Rex Occasionally Malfunctioned, Due To The Rain

“The T. Rex went into the heebie-jeebies sometimes. Scared the crap out of us. We’d be, like, eating lunch, and all of a sudden a T. rex would come alive. At first, we didn’t know what was happening, and then we realized it was the rain. You’d hear people start screaming.”

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#6 The Establishing Wide Shot Of The Dig Site In Jurassic Park III Was Actual Footage Of Jack Horner’s Excavation, Filmed In Early Summer 2001. The Site Contained Several Large Fossils Of Tyrannosaurs And Some Hadrosaurs

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#7 Dennis Nedry From Jurassic Park Wearing Similar Outfits To Characters In The Goonies. Kathleen Kennedy Was The Producer On Both.

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#8 Ariana Richards Got The Part Of Lex In Jurassic Park Because Of Scream

To cast Hammond’s granddaughter, Lex, Spielberg auditioned a number of girls and asked them to record their screams. Ariana Richards recalled that she won the role because she was the only one whose taped scream was loud enough to awaken a sleeping Kate Capshaw (Spielberg’s wife) and send her scurrying down the hall to see if her children were all right.

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#9 Jack Horner Was So Vital To The Lost World, They Based A Character Off Of Not Just Him But Also On His Rival

Alan Grant, from the original Jurassic Park, was based on paleontologist Jack Horner (pictured), who both Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg consulted about dinosaur behavior. For The Lost World, the character Robert Burke is based on rival paleontologist Robert Bakker, with whom Horner has a friendly feud.

Their major disagreement is over the behavior of Tyrannosaurus rex. Horner argues that T. Rex was a scavenger, while Bakker insists that T. Rex must have been a predator. Horner reportedly asked to have Burke eaten by the T. Rex in The Lost World. Bakker was apparently flattered, and wrote back to Horner, saying “I told you T. rex was a hunter!”

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#10 All Of The Cast Members Were Given A Raptor Model Signed By Steven Spielberg As A Gift Once The Film Had Wrapped

It looked very frightening, and Ariana Richards has it in her house to shock anyone coming in. “It’s pretty big, maybe five feet long, maybe two feet high in a glass case,” she said.

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#11 Although The Scientists In Jurassic Park, 1993 Were Skilled Geneticists, They Misspelled Stegosaurus And Tyrannosaurus On The Cryogenic Storage Containers

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#12 At The End Of Jurassic Park When The Remaining Crew Is About To Get Into The Heilcopter, The Jp Logo Is Covered With Mud To Read “Your Ass Park”. Condemning The Park In A Hilariously Brilliant Move

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#13 The Crew Had To Have Safety Meetings About The T. Rex

The T.rex weighed 12,000 pounds and was extremely powerful. To alert the crew when the T. rex would come on, they used flashing lights because if someone stood next to it and the head went by at speed, it felt like a bus going by.

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#14 The Spinosaurus In ‘Jurassic Park III’ Was The Largest Animatronic Ever Built

The Spinosaurus was the largest animatronic ever built. It weighed 12 tons and was operated by hydraulics, which allowed it to operate while completely submerged in water.

According to an interview with William H. Macy, the film’s animatronic Spinosaurus had a 1,000-horsepower motor and could turn its head at twice the force of gravity, with the tip of its nose moving at a speed of more than 100 miles per hour.

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#15 The Lost World Had An Intentional Godzilla Moment

The Japanese tourists running from the rampaging T. rex in the San Diego scene (an obvious homage to Godzilla movies) are saying, in Japanese, “I left Japan to get away from this?!”

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#16 Films In The Franchise Reference Another Spielberg Film

Jurassic Park: Shortly after Nedry makes his first appearance in the control room, during his argument with Hammond, one can clearly see Jaws playing in a small video window on one of Nedry’s computer screens. That movie was, of course, also directed by Steven Spielberg.

Jurassic Park III: When the paleontologists enter the bar for dinner with the Kirbys, you can see a Jurassic Park (1993) pinball machine in the background.

Jurassic World: The great white shark being eaten in Jurassic World is a clear homage to Jaws.

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#17 Jurassic Park Became The Permenant Perception Of What Many Dinosaurs Looked Like

The Dilophosaurus’s venom-spitting and neck-frill became so iconic that almost every other appearance of the animal in popular media, as well as most of the Dilophosaurus children’s toys advertise at least one or both of these aspects. Some even leave out the dinosaur’s striking double-crests. In reality, however, the spitting ability was made up by Michael Crichton, while adding the frill was Spielberg’s idea. Real Dilophosaurus possessed neither of these traits, with the twin crests and its thin jaws (the latter of which isn’t very evident in the movie’s design) being its real discerning features.

#18 In Jurassic Park III, Mr. Kirby Pees Upstream From Where Billy Is Drinking

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#19 In Jurassic World The Jeep Used To Escape Was The Same Jeep That Brought People In Jurassic Park

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#20 In “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”, The Random Citizen Who Gets Eaten By The T-Rex Is Named “Unlucky Bastard” In The Credits.

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#21 The Guests’ Encounter With The Sick Triceratops Ends Without Any Clear Explanation As To Why The Animal Is Sick. Michael Crichton’s Original Novel And The Screenplay, However, Includes An Explanation

The Triceratops lacked suitable teeth for grinding food and so, like birds, would swallow rocks and use them as gizzard stones. In the digestive tract, these rocks would grind the food to aid in digestion. After six weeks, the rocks would become too smooth to be useful, and the animal would regurgitate them. When finding and eating new rocks to use, the animal would also swallow West Indian Lilac berries. The fact that the berries and stones are regurgitated explains why Dr. Ellie Sattler never finds traces of them in the animal’s excrement.

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#22 Grant Fashioning A Functioning Seat-Belt With Only Two Latches And No Latch Plate Foreshadows A Later Scene Where The Dinosaurs Are Suddenly Able To Breed, Despite That They Were All Originally Female

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#23 In Jurassic Park, You Can See Dr. Wu Erasing A Data Sheet In The Lab

Erasing lab data is highly improper and unethical in scientific settings, hinting at Dr. Wu’s corrupt nature in later films.

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#24 Jeff Goldblum Is More Heroic Than Dr. Ian Malcolm

In the shooting script, it was written that during the Tyrannosaur’s escape, Dr. Ian Malcolm would simply get out of the car and run away, much as Donald Gennaro had done moments before. In fact, this is how Dr. Malcolm behaves in the scene as written in the book. When the time came to film the scene, it was Jeff Goldblum’s idea to make his flight more heroic, by having him distract the Tyrannosaur so Dr. Grant could save the children.

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#25 In The First Jurassic Park Bd Wong Is Prominently Billed In The Opening Credits As One Of The Leads, Despite Having Only A Couple Of Minutes Of Screen Time. He Is, In Fact, The Only Actor Who Was In Any Films Of The Original Trilogy To Make An Appearance In Jurassic World.

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#26 In Jurassic Park, Hammond Says Multiple Times He “Spared No Expense”, Dennis Nedry (Newman) Is The Only Part Of The Park That Was Underpaid And Was The Reason The Park Failed.

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#27 In The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Ship That Brings The T-Rex To San Diego Is Called The S.s Venture, Which Is A Reference To King Kong, In Which A Ship Called The S.s Venture Brought King Kong To New York

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#28 In Jurassic Park (1993), The Mouse Was Put Over The Play/Pause Button To Try To Hide The Fact That This ‘Live Feed’ Was In Fact A Video. However, The Progress Bar Can Still Be Seen Moving.

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#29 A List To All The Visual References That Jurassic World (2015) Did To Jurassic Park (1993)

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#30 In Jurassic Park When During The T-Rex Chase The Mirror Of The Jeep Says “Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear”.

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#31 Steven Spielberg Wanted The Velociraptors To Be About 10 Feet Tall, Which Was Taller Than They Were Known To Be. However, During Filming, Paleontologists Uncovered 10-Foot-Tall Specimens Of Raptors Called Utahraptors

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#32 At The Time Of Its Release, Jurassic Park Was Breaking All Of The Records

The film opened on Friday, June 11, 1993, and broke box office records its first weekend, bringing in $47 million. It eventually went on to make more than $900 million worldwide.

Screenwriter David Koepp remembers the day it opened: “I was in New York and I walked to the Ziegfeld [Theatre] to see how it was doing. The guy comes out and announces to the big line, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the 7 o’clock show of Jurassic Park is sold out.’ And people go, ‘Oooh.’ And he goes, ‘Also the 10 o’clock show is sold out.’ And they went, ‘Ooooooh.’ ‘And also Saturday night’s 7 and 10 o’clock shows are also sold out.’ And I was like, ‘I’m not an expert, but I think this is very good.'”

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#33 In The First Jurassic Park There Are Only 15 Minutes Of Actual Dinosaur Footage In The Film: Nine Minutes Are Stan Winston’s Animatronics, And Six Minutes Feature Ilm’s Cgi

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#34 In Jurassic World When Bryce Dallas Howard Rolls Up Her Sleeves And Ties Her Shirt At The Bottom To Say “I’m Ready”, She’s Wearing It The Same Way Laura Dern Did In Jurassic Park.

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#35 In The Flintstones (1994), A Playground Is Shown Named Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg Was An Executive Producer For The Film.

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#36 In Jurassic Park, The Dinosaur Is Heard Through Roars And Most Memorably, A Plastic Cup Of Water, Which Vibrates As The Predator Stomps Along

To create the shot they fed a guitar string through the car, down to the ground, and then had a guy lay under the car and pluck the guitar string

Image credits: 2 years ago

#37 In Jurassic World (2015) In The Far Back There Is A Store Called “Winston’s”. This Refers To Special Effects Artist Stan Winston Who Made The Special Effects For The Original Jurassic Park (1993).

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#38 In “Jurassic Park” [1993], After Nedry Is Attacked By The Dilophosaur, The Barbasol Can Containing The Stolen Dinosaur Embryos Is Quickly Covered In Mud. In Paleontology, One Of The Recognized Ways That An Organism May Become Fossilized Is Through The Rapid Burial Of Its Remains.

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#39 In ‚jurassic Park World: The Fallen Kingdom‘ The Elevator To Lockwoods Basement Has The Passcode 7337. J.a Bayona, The Director Of The Movie, Had His First Big Success With His Shortfilm Named ‚7337‘.

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#40 In “Jurassic Park: The Lost World” (1997) Malcolm Argues With Hammond About Playing Down The Deaths Of Three People, Even Though Four People Died In The Original Film. This Was Because No One Knew What Happened To Dennis Nedry.

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#41 Jurassic Park (1993) When Hammond Insists On Pouring The Champagne And Says “I Know My Way Around The Kitchen” But Uses The Cheap Glasses, Instead Of The Champagne Glasses Are To The Left Of The Shot.

Much like Jurassic Park, he has the best intentions but isn’t as capable as he presents

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#42 In A Scene In “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” There Are Fake Movie Posters Featuring Tom Hanks In Tsunami Sunrise, Robin Williams In Jack And The Behnstacks, And Arnold Schwarzenegger In King Lear.

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#43 Jurassic Park (1993) When Gennaro Is Arriving To The Mining Site, Rostagno Says “Tengo Mil Pesos Que Dicen Que Se Cae”

This translates to “I’ve got 1,000 pesos saying he falls.” moments later, Gennaro trips and falls.

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#44 The Lost World: Jurassic Park 1997, Early In The Movie Ian Malcolm Criticizes Nick Van Owen For Calling Out Sarah Harding’s Full Name

Inferring it is redundant since “How many Sarah’s are on the island”. Later when searching for Nick, he calls out Nicks full name

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#45 In Jurassic World, They Lure The Rex To The Fight With A Flare

This is because it’s the same one from Jurassic Park that Alan Grant lured away from the children. They then taught it to feed in the Jurassic World exhibit, lighting flares when the goat was raised into the enclosure.

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#46 Robert Muldoon Was The Gamekeeper/Head Of Security In Jurassic Park(1993). The Name Muldoon Originates From The Irish Maoldún Meaning Chief Of The Fortress.

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#47 In The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) The Worker Next To Ian Malcolm Who Is Trying To Contact Sarah Harding Via Satellite Phone Is Holding The Handset With The Earpiece Facing Away From His Ear

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#48 The Story Idea For Jurassic World Was Created By Steven Spielberg And Mark Protosevich Who Got Together Privately On Several Occasions (Without Studio Observance) To Confer The Notion Of Doing Another Installment In The Jurassic Park Franchise

Image credits: Universal Pictures

#49 In Jurassic Park When Lex Falls Through The Ceiling, The Stunt Double Accidentally Looks Up, So Instead Of Filming The Scene Again, They Superimposed Lex’s Face Over The Stunt Double.

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Source: boredpanda.com

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